LA magazine October 2010 - For light flight in the UK by Loop Digital Media

THE OFFICIAL LAA MAGAZINE FOR LIGHT FLIGHT IN THE UK

www.laa.uk.com October 2010 £3.60

✮ LAA G TRAININ S E S COWUINRTER DATES

AUSTER

BACK TO BLIGHTY!

The intriguing tale of a much travelled 1946 Auster AOP 6... now back in the UK on a Permit

PLUS:

BUYING AN LAA AIRCRAFT EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

CAPE CHALLENGE STEVE NOUJAIM’S OWN STORY

RETURN OF THE LAA RALLY Photo report from Sywell on the first full LAA Rally for four years

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> EDITOR’S DESK

INCREDIBLE ACHIEVEMENTS

Celebrating many milestones, from the Rally to the Cape Challenge are many of the de Havilland types that IT BEING the major LAA event commemorated the centenary of the first of the year, there are many flight of a DH aeroplane at Seven Barrows mentions of the Rally in this near Newbury on September 10. The Moth issue, so I’ll spare you my Club organised the fly-in to the same field, ramblings on the subject, other than to on the same date, 100 years on, and Nigel say I thought it was a fantastic three days Hitchman was there to capture the action. and I had a great time catching up with so Jodel pilot John Crabb made the many old friends – old being the operative newspapers and TV with his beautiful word because I met many people I have studies of garden birds, having developed known for 20 or more years; we’re all much photographic gadgetry to capture growing old disgracefully together! their flying prowess. You can enjoy flight Other major news was Steve Noujaim’s of a somewhat different nature with his incredible Cape Challenge flight from interesting tale. Southend to Cape Town and return. Steve Francis’ piece last month on autopilots and has written up his story of the flight for this the dangers of trim runaway attracted a lot issue, and what a flight it was, a mental of attention, so a follow-up article is featured and physical challenge that, though he is this month. delighted to have achieved it, by his own Malcolm McBride also keeps us up to admission he never wants to do again. speed in his inimitable style, on some of the Congratulations, Steve, on a magnificent technical failures experienced by Permit achievement. types of late. This month, he features fuelThis issue’s air test is of a much-travelled pump failures, notably one in a Auster, now resident again in the Jungman that, unfortunately, had UK after 25 years in the US. Many tragic consequences. Austers have come onto the LAA Another feature with a Permit in the past couple of years technical bearing, is that by Mike and a feature on the type is well Barnard on the responsibilities overdue, so enjoy the nostalgia that you take on regarding of a wartime vintage aircraft the airworthiness of your that made a bold, if ultimately Permit aircraft, certainly a futile, attempt to transition far more important personal into a commercially viable consideration than for a typical civil light aircraft in the years BRIAN HOPE CofA type. following WW2. EDITOR Fly safely, Brian. Of even older vintage, brian.hope@laa.uk.com

Another diverse issue features some very talented and inspirational LAA members: a black belt in spraying (top, Project News, p14); the Moth Club celebrates the centenery of de Havilland’s ﬁrst ﬂight at Seven Barrows (P47); and... quite right, that’s not a member, but the subject matter of an LAA member’s new aviating hobby.

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 3

> SECTION HEAD 6 NEWS

20 LAA SYWELL RALLY REPORT

47 SEVEN BARROWS

Two new gyroplanes, Twister aerobatic team goes Pyro!

News from the Rally – voted an overwhelming success – and a line up of some top homebuilts there

Celebrating the centenary of the first flight of a de Havilland aircraft

26 CAPE CHALLENGE

More on auto-pilots

He’s back – and vows never to do it again. Steve Noujaim shares his inner thoughts of this epic flight

51 ET COURSES

32 BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY

52 SAFETY SPOT

How one LAA member’s love of flying sparked another hobby

Things to watch out for

44 BUYING LAA AIRCRAFT

New prop and more

Great! But a few checks will ensure you live happily ever after if you go after a Permit aircraft

66 WHERE TO GO

8 AGM Agenda for the LAA AGM and a proxy voting form

11 LICENCE UPDATE New regulations mean changes to updating your licence

12 OVER THE HEDGE Resetting an altimeter in flight is not so easy in a Cub

14 PROJECT NEWS It’s payback time for a Van’s RV-7 enthusiast

CONTENTS Volume 3 Issue 10 October 2010

48 ENGINEERING

From avionics to welding, and woodwork to aluminium...

59 PRODUCTS

October’s grand finale to the 2010 flying season

FLIGHT TEST Contact! Starting the Auster AOP 6, subject of the flight test

00 LIGHT AVIATION MONTH 2008

CHAIRMAN’S CHAT

6 A FANTASTIC RALLY: THE SPIRIT IS BACK, THE PASSION IS REBORN... 11

I AM reminded that had it not been for a particular Cranfield Rally, it is likely I would not have ‘discovered’ the exciting world of Permit Aircraft. I had gained my PPL a few years earlier and joined a PA28 group – which widened my experience, but left me wondering what my ambition was in this wonderful world of sports and recreational aviation. In front of me on that life-changing day was a red RV6. After much admiration, I realised I wanted one – the rest is history. Wind the clock forward to retirement and somehow, within a couple of years, I was privileged to become your Chairman. Addressing the issues surrounding the Rally has been one of the most difficult that your elected representatives have had – yes, the Engineering is fundamental and the regulatory stuff is undeniably essential, but the Rally is at the heart of the culture and spirit of our Association. The decision to stop the Rally had been a very hard one to make, and it was made in the certain knowledge that the Rally would have to return with a formula that retained its spirit and was essentially one which was not financially challenging. I’m glad to say that the cycle of necessary surgery is over and the patient is fully recovered, but the lessons learnt must be understood and never forgotten. I and the LAA office have received many letters of thanks for the 2010 Rally. Rightly, they recognise the hard work of the teams of volunteers that have worked so hard to make this happen. It has clearly been enjoyed by all and, most importantly, the ‘spirit’ is back. One particular handwritten letter, from Lewis Benjamin, erstwhile stalwart of the Tiger Club, expressed that so well. I quote: “I’d be grateful if, on my behalf, you’d congratulate the LAA and Sywell teams for an absolutely magnificent Rally for 2010. Their hard

work backstage was evident. “No more tired old laments of, ‘It’s not as good as it used to be.’ Believe me, as one who knew the Rallies of the seventies, this year’s event was up there with the best. It met every criteria – including the weather. We finally left, weary but happy. “I’ve known the ULAA, the PFA and now the LAA, and have never felt more proud to belong.” Thanks Lewis for that. Yes, the backstage work was outstanding and it’s great to have a Rally again. The team is, as I write, already thinking about next year’s event. Let’s look forward to that and trust the weather gods will be kind again. I would like to think that somewhere in this year’s event, someone – hopefully many – saw something that will enable them to grow their passion, just as it did for me at Cranfield all those years ago. OTHER NEWS Coming down and returning to the hangar, the trials of progressing regulation continue to absorb so much time and effort, so here are a couple of updates for you. I commented last month on the medical issues in achieving a satisfactory European Light Aircraft Pilots Licence; they continue. Much is in progress to address the issues that would affect us. The issue of ex-Factory PtF aircraft flying to France is still to be resolved. Some may have seen a draft letter from DGAC, which seemingly does resolve that – but remember, it is a draft and has no legal status. We are to have discussions with DGAC on this later in October. We understand this is an important issue and we are working on the problem – information will be published on the website as soon as it becomes available. Happy landings. Roger Hopkinson

THE TEAM

PATRON: HRH Prince Michael of Kent, KCVO, FRAeS PRESIDENT: Sir John Allison VICE PRESIDENTS: Laurie Shaw, DAE, CEng, MRAeS, Stewart Jackson LAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIRMAN: Roger Hopkinson VICE CHAIRMEN: John Brady, James Tannock DIRECTORS: Mike Barnard, John Broad, Harry Hopkins, Brian Hope, Stewart Jackson, Barry Plumb, Lord Rotherwick TREASURER: Bob Littledale HEAD OFFICE Turweston Aerodrome Nr Brackley, Northants NN13 5YD TEL: 01280 846786

FAX: 01280 846780 WEBSITE: www.laa.uk.com The Turweston oﬃce is open from 0900 to 1700 hrs every weekday except public holidays. Members and those interested in ﬁnding out more about the LAA are welcome to visit any time during opening hours LIGHT AVIATION MAGAZINE EDITOR: Brian Hope, 60 Queenborough Road, Sheerness, Kent ME12 3BZ TEL: 01795 662508 (evenings only) EMAIL: brian.hope@laa.uk.com Members’ articles, letters and news items are welcome. Please send to the editorial address above. ORIGINATION AND PRODUCTION LOOP Publishing (UK) Ltd,

9-11 The Mill Courtyard, Copley Hill Business Park, Cambridge, CB22 3GN TEL: 01223 497060 WEB: www.loop.aero DESIGN: Bill Spurdens, Dan Payne ADVERTISEMENT SALES EXECUTIVE: Chris Wilson TEL: 01223 497067 EMAIL: chrisw@loop.aero Views expressed by contributors do not necessarily reﬂect those of the LAA.

LAANEWS

ALL THE NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF LIGHT AVIATION

NEW GYROS GO HEAD-TO-HEAD Magni and Rotorsport flight testing latest two-seat enclosed aircraft for late 2010 approval

WO new gyro designs are head-to-head in the race for CAA Section T Approval. Both are fully enclosed twoseaters but are otherwise very different. The Magni M24 ‘Orion’ sideby-side gyroplane received CAA approval to start flight testing on 25 August 2010 at its Rufforth base, while the Rotorsport UK ‘Calidus’, a two-seat tandem machine, had received its permission to start testing a few days earlier. It flew for the first time in the UK on 21 August, at the Midland Gliding Club. The Magni M24 will have a base price of 69,000 euro. It has a max weight of 500kg, and empty weight of 285kg, leaving a payload of 215kg. Max speed is 115mph, with a cruise of 90mph. Takeoff roll is 30-70 metres and landing roll is quoted as ‘0-30 metres’! It ‘s powered by the Rotax 914 Turbo. The Calidus is by the same company that is already selling

WORLD TOUR ON Saturday, 11 September, Pat and Linda Elliot set out from Dunsfold on the adventure of a lifetime – they are intending to ﬂy their Long EZ around the world. First destination is Australia, and as I write on 23 September the couple has just crossed the Saudi Arabian Peninsular and are in Riyadh. Pat, a retired BA B777 skipper, and his wife are doing the ﬂight for fun, adventure and sight-seeing. The route includes the Gulf, Far East, Australia and New Zealand, returning via North America, Greenland, Iceland and the Faroes.

the MT03 and MTOsport open cockpit two-seat gyroplanes. Engineer Gerry Speich is the Uk agent and has also played a major role in developing the aircraft with the German manufacturer. It has the same max weight but is slightly lighter at 270kg, giving a 230kg payload. Max speed is 120mph, and

there’s a choice of Rotax engine, the 912ULS or 914UL. Both companies expect to have full UK Approval in October and will commence customer deliveries soon after. Both companies say there is ‘pent-up demand’ for the gyroplanes. www.magnigyro.co.uk www.rotorsport.org

Magni M24 Orion enclosed gyroplane with two side-by-side seats.

HERCULES PROPELLERS HAVING built an exquisite Flitzer, Rupert Wasey has turned his skills to producing wooden propellers for what is undeniably a large gap in the market since Chris Lodge retired. Rupert said, “I’ve been putting

The Elliots about to depart. 6 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

Lovely ﬁnish to Hercules prop.

an enormous amount of work into the design and manufacturing methods of propellers and the performance results have been proving the system to be great success. “My design and manufacturing

technique has been developed to enable me to supply a propeller as a ‘one-off’, specifically designed to optimise the performance of any given airframe and engine combination. By implementing computer design and CNC machining, I’ve been able to keep my prices comparable to the more traditional manufacturers who basically duplicate patterns. “I’m so confident my propellers will out-perform the competition that I’m offering a money-back guarantee. If the customer is not completely satisfied with the propeller for any reason, send it back to me and I’ll give a full refund.” Can’t say fairer than that so if you need a prop contact Rupert at Hercules Propellers via his website. www.hercprops.com

PLEASE SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS FOR INCLUSION IN LA NEWS TO: Brian Hope, 60 Queenborough Road, Sheerness, Kent ME12 3BZ. EMAIL: BFJJodel@talktalk.net TEL: 07949 650847

LAA AT FLYING SHOW

‘Both gyroplanes have received permission from the CAA to start UK flight testing’

The Association will be exhibiting at the British Microlight Aircraft Association’s (BMAA) Flying Show on Saturday-Sunday, 26-27 November at Birmingham’s NEC so do come along and say hello. It is too soon to know yet whether we can arrange a discounted admission rate for LAA members but hopefully that will be so. www.theﬂyingshow.co.uk

SANDOWN AIRPORT THE struggle to keep Sandown Airport open continues and despite claims that it has closed, apparently an injunction from one of the tenants has kept it open. Show your support by calling 01983 405125 to check the current position and pay them a visit if at all possible.

SYWELL AND MKAS ET DONATIONS

ON THE TRAIL SPRITE Aviation has launched its new oﬀering, the Trail from Italian manufacturer Nando Gruppo which it hopes to sell for under 16,000 euro (excl vat and delivery). The kit really will be a kit, not a selection of completed sub-assemblies, but with pulled rivet construction it should not be a diﬃcult aircraft to build. A tandem all-metal bushplane, the Trail is not yet LAA approved but the designers are keen to assist LAA Engineering with the process Contact Graham Smith of Sprite at 01304 827266 for more details.

PYROTECHNICS TWISTERS TWISTER Aerobatics launched its new Pyro display at the ﬁrst Bournemouth evening display recently and this superb shot was taken from the lead aircraft. The Duo has performed at more than 70 displays in its ﬁrst

season – the ﬁrst public display was in Turkmenistan. The ﬁnal event of the year will be in the centre of Barcelona in October. If you want to book the team for 2011, contact Pete Wells at zuluglasstek@clara.net

Twisting the night away! Sprite’s new Trail.

AS a thank you for the tremendous effort Milton Keynes Aviation Society put into the LAA Rally, Sywell Aerodrome has very generously donated £500 on their behalf to the LAA Educational Trust. MKAS also raised £205 for the Trust at its Young Aviators Day at Sywell on 18 September. MKAS Chairman Andre Fahndrich said, “A big thank you to Sywell Aerodrome and all its staff for providing a wonderful setting to the Young Aviators Day and for the Air Traffic Controllers, Hotel and Pilots Mess staff for keeping everyone fed and watered. “We flew a total of 87 Young Aviators and 15 adults, with 14 pilots and their aircraft on some 68 flights. It was a great day!” www.mkas.net

REDHILL PLANS HARD RUNWAY REDHILL Aerodrome is proposing to build a hard runway which would transform the airﬁeld’s activities during winter and secure its future. CEO John Horne has been working on a Master Plan for the aerodrome. He said, “Securing some certainty about the future, for us as a business, the people whose livelihoods depend on jobs here and, importantly, the communities who are our neighbours, is at the top of our agenda.” The aerodrome proposes to replace the three existing grass runways with one hard surfaced runway on an east to west alignment. The runway would have a take-oﬀ run available length of up to 1199 metres. www.redhillaerodrome.com OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 7

> AGM AND PROXY FORM

LIGHT AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

13 November 2010 10:30am LAA, Turweston Aerodrome NN13 5YD AS notiﬁed in the August issue of Light Aviation, the AGM of Light Aviation Association Limited will be held on 13 November 2010 at LAA, Turweston Aerodrome, NN13 5YD at 10.30am. The meeting will include the Chairman’s annual review, the Treasurer’s report on the company’s accounts, a question and answer session with the board and LAA management and possibly a presentation by a guest speaker. Three board members will be retiring at the AGM and have been nominated for reelection. No other nominations to the board have been received within the prescribed period. No motions for consideration at the AGM had been received at the time of publication of this magazine, but the closing date for such motions is 23 October 2010: any motions received on or before that date will

be published on the LAA website www.laa. uk.com and added to the agenda.

DRAFT AGENDA The resolutions for approval by the beneficial shareholders will be: 1. Adoption of the statutory accounts of the company for the year ended 31 December 2009 2. Re-election of John Brady, Brian Hope and Michael Barnard as directors of the company. 3. Re-election of Collett Hulance LLP as auditors of the company. • Please note that only beneficial shareholders or their proxies may vote at the AGM. Members of the LAA who are not beneficial shareholders may attend, but are not permitted to vote. Members wishing to become beneficial shareholders may do so by downloading and completing the acceptance form at www. lightaircraftassociation.co.uk/membership/

share_form.pdf (or by requesting a copy from the LAA office) and returning it to the Company Secretary at the address below. • Voting by proxy for beneficial shareholders is permitted using the official proxy voting form which will be published on the LAA website and in Light Aviation magazine. • Copies of the 2009 statutory accounts are available on application to the LAA office. • It is in the interest of all LAA members to accept their allocated beneficial share in Light Aircraft Association Limited. The shares have been set aside for you, but the law prevents us automatically allocating them - you must accept them. This way, we all become owners of our own association. RW Littledale, Company Secretary Light Aircraft Association Limited Turweston Aerodrome, Nr Brackley Northants NN13 5YD

IF YOU CAN’T MAKE THE AGM, REMEMBER THAT PROXY VOTING IS NOW A POSSIBILITY VIA OUR FORM TO RIGHT

08 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

Please cut along dotted line if you need to use the proxy form

LIGHT AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION LIMITED ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 13 NOVEMBER 2010 BENEFICIAL SHAREHOLDER’S PROXY FORM Please read the notes at the bottom of this page on 'How to fill in the Proxy Form', before completing the form

NAME: ADDRESS:

MEMBERSHIP NO: I HEREBY APPOINT THE CHAIRMAN OF THE MEETING*

as my proxy to attend and, on a poll, vote for me and on my behalf at the Annual General Meeting of the company to be held at Turweston Aerodrome at 10:30am on Sat 13th November 2010 and at any adjournment thereof. *Cross out ‘chairman of the meeting’ if you want to appoint any other person as your proxy and insert his or her name and address in the box above, initialling the change [see note (1) below for further details]. Please indicate which way you wish your proxy to vote by ticking the appropriate box alongside each resolution. IN THE ABSENCE OF INSTRUCTIONS the proxy may vote or abstain from voting as he/she thinks fit on the specified resolutions and unless instructed otherwise. The proxy may also vote or abstain from voting as he/she thinks fit on any other business, including amendments to resolutions which may properly come before the meeting. Resolutions will be published on the website after the 23rd October 2010 deadline for acceptance.

RESOLUTIONS

FOR

AGAINST

Ordinary resolution no. 1 Ordinary resolution no. 2 Ordinary resolution no. 3 Ordinary resolution no. 4 DATE: SIGNATURE:

NOTES ON HOW TO FILL IN THE PROXY FORM 1 A beneficial shareholder entitled to attend and vote at the above meeting is entitled to appoint a proxy to attend and, on a poll, to vote instead of him/her. A proxy need not be a beneficial shareholder in the company. If you wish to appoint a proxy please delete the words ‘chairman of the meeting’ and initial the alteration and PRINT the name and address of the proxy in the space provided. To be valid, the instrument appointing a proxy, and any power of attorney or other authority under which it has been executed, or a duly certified copy of such power or authority, must be received at the registered office of the company not less than 48 hours before the time appointed for the holding of the meeting. 2 You may only appoint one proxy. 3 Only those beneficial shareholders whose names appear on the register at 10.30am on 13th November 2010 shall be entitled to vote at the meeting. 4 In the case of joint holdings, the vote of the senior beneficial shareholder who tenders a vote shall be accepted to the exclusion of the vote the other beneficial shareholder. For this purpose seniority shall be determined by the order in which names stand in the register of beneficial shareholders. 5 If this form is returned without any indication as to how the person appointed proxy shall vote, he or she may exercise his or her discretion as to how he or she votes, or whether he or she abstains from voting.

> REGULATIONS

LICENCE CHANGES Are you flying on a PPL using a medical declaration? If so you need to read this carefully, says John Brady

IT’S possible you think you know all the ins and outs of when you need to get a medical certificate rather than a medical declaration when renewing your licence – or do you? New regulations came into effect at the end of August, and renewals are now governed by whether you have a SEP (Single Engine Piston) rating or a SSEA (Simple Single Engine Aircraft) rating. Read on and all will be revealed. The Air Navigation Order says that if you fly on a PPL you must hold an appropriate medical certificate. If you fly on an NPPL you may fly on a medical declaration. To help those PPL holders who find they are unable to hold a medical certificate, but can hold the less stringent medical declaration, the CAA issued an exemption allowing PPL holders to fly within NPPL privileges on a PPL with a medical declaration. That saved them paying for a new NPPL licence when their old PPL was still valid – and so avoid overlapping double licence payments (jolly nice people at the CAA). However, when it is time to renew a PPL licence, the appropriate medical certificate must be held; a copy of it must be sent to the CAA with the renewal application. That applies to all licences not just PPLs. So, if you cannot hold a medical certificate, you have to change to an NPPL at that point, but meanwhile you have avoided duplicate licence costs. If you are flying on a declaration to reduce costs rather than for medical reasons, you could, of course, take a medical examination at licence renewal time and go ahead and renew your PPL, rather than change to an NPPL. If you have a “valid for life” PPL you never reach that point so can continue with a medical declaration. However, a number of changes came into effect on 31 August.

NEW REGULATIONS To understand the rest of this, you need to know the difference between a Single Engine Piston (SEP) rating and a Simple Single Engine Aircraft (SSEA) rating – don’t wander off now you really do need to know this!

If you have an SEP rating on a PPL, you can fly complicated single-engine aircraft, add IMC, instructor, and night ratings and fly with 3km visibility clear of cloud and in sight of the surface. If you have an SSEA rating, you can only fly an SSEA – you cannot add any additional ratings, you cannot fly IFR and you cannot fly outside the UK without permission. The old exemption ORS4 756, allowed the PPL holder with a medical declaration and SEP rating to fly an SSEA. The new exemption ORS4 816, effective from August 31, 2010 allows the same person to fly an SSEA, but only if they have an appropriate class rating – that is to say an SSEA rating. An SEP rating is no longer adequate. This results in a number of important consequences: • You need an SSEA rating. The CAA says you can apply to have that added to your license at no cost by filling in a rating application form (SRG 1119). You do not need any examiner’s signature. We recommend you do this now as there is some debate about the legality of flying without an SSEA rating. • You will know that you cannot fly unless you have a validation on your licence; this is good for 24 months. Under the new exemption you are flying on an SSEA rating, so when you come to revalidate your licence your flying hours will not count as SEP time; so while you can revalidate your SSEA rating, you cannot revalidate your SEP rating – even though the aeroplane you are flying is probably the same for SSEA or SEP. Your hours won’t count, and if you want to keep an SEP rating you will have to take a skills test with an examiner. • If you go to a flight examiner to revalidate your licence by experience, your medical status will now need to be checked. If you have a declaration, you should not get an SEP rating revalidated. If you don’t already have an SSEA rating, the

examiner will not be able to do anything until you have applied to the CAA and it has issued a rating. Meanwhile, if your previous rating expires, you will have to renew it by taking a skills test. So best you get that now. • When you come to renew your PPL licence, if you have been ﬂying on a declaration you will need to obtain a medical certiﬁcate and take a skills test to recover your SEP rating. Otherwise you can apply for an NPPL.

REASON FOR CHANGE We understand this change results from complaints to the CAA that pilots with a medical declaration are continuing to ﬂy on a PPL and not changing to an NPPL. In fact, nothing here will change that – provided you have a declaration you can keep your PPL going until it needs to be renewed. If your licence is valid for life it does not need to be renewed – saving you the cost of a new licence. This is something of a simpliﬁcation, there will be other angles too. Please follow the link on the LAA website. www.laa.uk.com

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 11

> OVER THE HEDGE

COPING WITH BASIC

Flying a Piper J3 Cub puts the pilot in an inconvenient position with altimeter changes By John Beeswax

OK, so it’s pretty easy to understand. Radar vectors are not needed and it’s a clear blue sky. But the old guy flying the venerable Piper J3 Cub will need a long right arm if the regional altimeter setting changes at the next boundary. For weight and balance purposes he has to sit in the rear seat of the aircraft, obeying the stern dictum of the prominently displayed notice ‘Solo from the rear seat only’. This places him more than an arm’s length from the Kollsman setting knob on the altimeter mounted on the aircraft’s ‘instrument’ panel at the front of the tandemseated cockpit. It’s a bit like sitting in your granddaddy’s old tin bath tub by the fire and trying to reach the soap, which is on a chair across the room! Like the tub, the older Cubs are 1930’s technology — a bit before altimeter settings were in fashion. However, there is a solution. It requires a modicum of simple mental arithmetic and the knowledge that one millibar is equivalent to 30ft of altitude. At the start of the flight, the Cub pilot sets his altimeter to the airstrip’s height above sea level before propping the old Continental A65 into life. Altimeter-wise, he will be taking off with the local QNH set. Let us suppose that this setting is, say, 1020mbs. When

00 LIGHT 12 LIGHT AVIATION AVIATION OCTOBER MONTH 2008 2010

he subsequently contacts the first Air Traffic Centre and requests ‘Basic Service’ using his modest battery-powered radio, he will receive the latest regional altimeter setting. If it is different from the original home-base setting, he has a problem. Unable to reach the aircraft’s altimeter to re-adjust its scale, he must calculate a new height to fly in order to comply with any altitude restrictions. If he has been given, say, a regional setting of 1010mbs he calculates that the difference of (1020-1010mbs) is ten millibars which is equivalent to 10 x 30 = 300ft. Thus, if instructed to fly at 2000ft, he must fly the Cub at 2,300ft to comply. Simple! But it all gets a bit complicated when he arrives at a higher altitude airfield and is given a QFE and a circuit height to fly. To overcome the need for maths, veteran Cub pilot Dick Davison used to carry a ‘plodger’ stick. It was about 18ins long and tipped with a valve-grinding rubber sucker. With this sucker, Dick was able to reset his J3 Cub’s altimeter to any setting required. “It worked very well,” he recalled, “but the trouble was when one carried a passenger their back completely obscured the altimeter and, more importantly, the airspeed indicator!” He solved this problem by up-grading to a PA18 Super Cub, which is soloed from the front seat. That’s progress! But don’t be too hard on the pilot of an old J3 Cub if his circuit height isn’t spot on – he may have got his mental arithmetic wrong.

TWENTY EIGHT GOLDEN HOURS When Gwynne Griffith’s beautifully built Van’s RV9A was ‘rolled out’ into the bright winter sunshine last December, it brought comments of admiration from excited onlookers at RAF Mona, Anglesey. Its immaculate build quality was apparent to all those who could appreciate the elegance of riveted aluminium alloy aircraft construction. Gwynne is known for his assiduous attention to detail and skill as an aircraft constructor, his early days as a Saunders Roe apprentice and later years in civil engineering have left their legacy on his work. He had put his very heart and soul into the building of this popular Van’s design. The task had taken him 18 months, but he was not to be rushed. Following his retirement at the age of 65, he had purchased the part built kit and watched with pride as each component took shape in his workshop at Penmaenmawr. When they were completed, the wings and fuselage had been stowed (with his wife’s consent) in the hall and even on the landing of their neatly maintained house. Every other spare room held some of the aircraft’s vital components. Eventually, in the autumn of last year, the Van’s, now registered G-CFMC, was trailered to RAF Mona for final assembly under the watchful eyes of LAE Druid Petrie, Gwynne’s LAA Inspector. It was a great day in the late winter of this year when the RV9A took to the air in Druid’s hands, its brand new l60hp Lycoming O-320 engine behaving faultlessly and Druid glowing in his praise of the aircraft’s handling. There were no post-test flight modifications needed, everything had work perfectly and the subsequent issue of its Permit to Fly was a mere formality. After Gwynne Griffith himself had been checked out in his new aircraft, he was

overjoyed with its performance. He had spared no expense and G-CFMC was fitted with an autopilot linked to the GPS driven cockpit display. “It is breathtaking,” reflected Gwynne, “I would program the autopilot via waypoints that I chose and the aircraft would maintain track with perfect precision. When it indicated that I was nearing four nms from my destination, I would look over the nose – and there it was!” Alas, this euphoria was not to last. The total expense of buying the kit and its brand new Lycoming engine, plus all of the latest avionics that Gwynne had fitted, had punched a big hole in his pensioner’s savings account. This fact, coupled with the relatively thirsty engine and increased fuel costs plus mounting hangarage charges took a heavy toll on his pension arrangements. The present low rates of interest now paid on pensioner’s life savings are a real handicap for those people who have worked hard and saved all of their lives for their retirement. Gwynne eventually had to sit back and take a hard look at his finances. The resultant conclusion was not a happy one. Reluctantly, he would have to sell his beloved aircraft. It was a bitter decision to make but, always a realist, Gwynne stuck to his plan and the brand new aircraft was purchased by a syndicate of four pilots based at Yeatshall Farm, Abbots Bromley. The delivery flight took place on a fine sunny day in late July. Gwynne had a rueful look on his face as he adjusted his headset and carried out the final cockpit checks prior to starting the Lycoming for the last time. Later, he was able to reminisce and look back on that last flight and all of the others with great satisfaction at his undoubted achievements. There is no doubt that his beautifully built Van’s would have been a favourite contestant in any Concours event and he had enjoyed every moment of flying her. When asked how many hours he had flown in G-CFMC, the total was 28. All of his pilot friends knew that each and every hour had been precious to him. Twenty-eight golden hours.

THE ‘PRESS-ON’ FACTOR Veteran pilot Arthur Orchard is a remarkable man. In a word, he is irrepressible. After undergoing major invasive cardiac surgery earlier this year, he has made a steady, albeit initially painful, recovery and is now able to return to an active life. At the onset of his illness, he reluctantly withdrew from his Mona Flying Club duties and put his Jodel Dl 17 aircraft up for sale. His fate lay in the hands of the surgeons. To see him today, only five months after his major operation, you would not credit the fact that he had ever been ill. As duty pilot at RAF Mona on a busy Sunday morning in August, he was once again in the thick of the action, briskly active on the R/T and also booking flights in and out. But that was not all. With a twinkle in his eye, he revealed that he had just purchased another aircraft, which he planned to share with a fellow Mona Flying Club pilot. After his club session was completed, he was able to show admirers his new acquisition. The gleaming white colour scheme of the Zenair CH601 Zodiac contrasted with the darker hangar background. Registered G-OANN, it had been based at Arboyne Gliding Club, Scotland, and had been flown to RAF Mona by a fellow Zenair owner Ron Kelsall. Although Arthur has yet to regain his NPPL, the Zenair represents his enthusiastic confidence in the future and his unquenchable love of flying. Its 27ft wingspan, lightweight all-metal construction and economic 80hp Rotax 912 make it ideal for low-cost flying and local airstrip operation. As Arthur sat in the Zodiac’s cockpit with new aircraft partner Gordon Gibson, he radiated confidence in his continued love of recreational light aviation. His beaming smile showed his anticipation of returning to the air soon. Cardiac problems are not uncommon among us pilots. Perhaps this story will give some encouragement and reassurance to those who have recently been diagnosed with such an illness and face an uncertain outlook. Thanks to the immense skill of cardiac surgeons today, their aviation future is bright.

Soloing from the back seat of the old Piper J3 Cub puts the altimeter just out of reach for the average-size pilot, even if leaning forwards. Photo: A Chalkley

Gwynne Griﬃth completes the pre-start check in his immaculate Van’s RV-9A, G-CFMC, prior to his last ﬂight to deliver it to its new owners. Photo: A Chalkley

Arthur Orchard, now recuperated from major cardiac surgery, tries out the left-hand seat of his recently purchased Zenair CR 601 Zodiac. The big smile on his face says it all. Photo: A Chalkley

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 13

COMPILED BY Adrian Bleese

Project News .. iler.... piler omp com ews c New ctt N rojec Proje off a P ns o ons essio onffessi con ally c Rally R

I PROMISE that it’s not the Pope’s visit to Britain that has brought this on, but this month’s Project News does include a confession as well as the usual composite and aluminium wonders. It’s a modern list this time around – with stories of two long RV-7 builds, as well as the latest from Kitty Evans on the progress of Nick Smith’s Foxbat.

First, though, I must get the confession out of the way because, I am told, it is good for the soul: until very recently, I was a Rally virgin. I had never managed to make the time to attend a Rally until this year. I still had to work on Saturday, but I managed Friday and Sunday and I am incredibly pleased that I did because, among other things, I caught up with

Mark Browning’s Van’s RV-7 (323-14170) G-LNNE

OBSESSION BECOMES REALITY WHEN I learned to ﬂy in the late eighties, I didn’t really know anything about building

aeroplanes and the ones I saw back then didn’t ﬂick any of my switches. After 20 years of ﬂying

several builders, pilots and aeroplanes that have featured in Project News over the last 11 months. I had a thoroughly fantastic time at the Rally and, if we missed each other, then please accept my apologies and email me at ableese@btinternet.com or write to 9 Tunstall Green, Tunstall, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 2JJ with your project news.

though, I was ready for something other than renting or syndicate ownership – I was ready to build my own aeroplane. When I ﬁrst read an article about Van’s Aircraft, notably the new

RV-7, I found it all very interesting, but I didn’t know that it was to be the start of an obsession. Shortly afterwards, I contacted John Kelsall, who at that time had built both an RV-6 and an RV-7;

Complete and resplendant here in a last-minute decision paint scheme.

CLEARED TO FLY Five aircraft appear in this month’s list, all of which are new builds, with the exception of the Airedale. The line-up includes Martin Payne’s SportCruiser, G-CGMP, which appeared as a new project in January; Michael McCrudden’s Pioneer 200-M, G-CGMW, which we ﬁrst saw in March, and Jabiru J430, G-CGLN, which was registered as new in May. Well done to all the builders. If you’ve built these, or any of the 107 aeroplanes that have appeared in the Cleared to Fly lists this year, then it

14 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

appears from my meetings at the Rally as though you have two choices: you can either email your story and some pictures to ableese@btinternet.com or you can, on meeting me next time, look at your shoes and mumble something about always meaning to put something together! So, go on, let us know how it was for you. > G-ASRK BEAGLE A.109 B.538 05/08/2010 Bio Pathica Ltd, 103 Ellingham Industrial Estate, Ellingham Way, Ashford, TN23 6LZ (Picture of G-ASRK by Mick Bajcar in 2009) > G-CGLP CZAW SPORTCRUISER 338-14846 11/08/2010 PJ Reilly, 13 Guilder Lane, Salisbury, SP1 1HW

and PA Cruttenden, 14 Hainault Drive, Verwood, BH31 6LE > G-CGMW PIONEER 200-M 334-14958 11/08/2010 MS McCrudden, 15 Glenview Road, Holywood, BT18 0PU G-ASRK

Mark went for a simple, uncomplicated, analogue cockpit.

‘Halfway through the project, I decided my single garage just wasn’t big enough, so I extended it by 20ft’ he kindly allowed me to look over his aircraft before taking me on my first flight in an RV-7 – what Van’s famously calls ‘the $80,000 check ride’. The following day, I ordered the plans, empennage and tool kit. The build has taken six years and eight months since that point. I guess I could have finished it sooner, but halfway through the project, I decided that my single garage just wasn’t big enough, so I extended it by 20ft and installed a pitched roof. The additional space made it so much easier. G-LNNE, named after my wife Lynne, has a O-360 180hp Lycoming, built for me by Mark & David Bonsall at Dukeries

Aviation, and a Van’s-supplied Sensenich ﬁxed-pitch propeller. To keep it simple, and control the cost, I went for the standard VFR analogue panel, although with hindsight, the cost of EFIS systems nowadays makes the glass option very affordable. As with any project, I made mistakes and learned by them, the most expensive one being a broken canopy, which added another £1,051 to the cost of the build. I felt quite unwell and not a little emotional when I heard the crack; that was the lowest point in the whole project but, as with any obsession, it was soon forgotten and I bounced back and got on with the job in hand.

> G-CGLN JABIRU J430 336-14974 23/08/2010 JR Frohnsdorff, 4 The Croft, Haddenham, Aylesbury, HP17 8AS and CHK Hood, Flat 11, Molineux Place, Boltro Road, Haywards Heath, RH16 1BF > G-CGMP CZAW SPORTCRUISER 338-14948 23/08/2010 Martin Payne, 28 Hever Avenue, West Kingsdown, Sevenoaks, TN15 6HE

NEW PROJECTS Mostly very new designs in the New Projects list this time around, the only odd one out being the Europa that, though now nearly 20

The paint scheme was a last-minute decision. A friend of mine, RV-8 owner Arthur Fletcher, came over to have a look at the aircraft while it was painted in primer. One look at my suggested paint scheme had him shaking his head. A day later, he came up with several designs, including the one I have now. Thanks, Arthur, I’m really pleased you called that day. Painting can be expensive, so I made the decision to undertake all the preparation work myself including lining and masking, and just let the paint shop shoot the colour. This proved to be a good, money-saving decision and I ended up with a great ﬁnish at a reasonable cost. The timescale on the build wasn’t really important to me and, in actual fact, by spreading the cost over a longer period, it enabled me to spend more

years old, does not look out of place next to the Sting Carbon and Pioneer 400. It’s nice to see new projects appearing after all the changes that have taken place at Europa. Best of luck to all of the builders embarking on these projects - I hope that we might see some of them at next year’s Rally. Don’t forget to keep us up-to-date on your progress via the Project News pages: email me at ableese@btinternet.com or write to 9 Tunstall Green, Tunstall, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 2JJ. > EUROPA (247-15008) 27/08/10 R Frank, 14 Cuckoo Lane, West End, Woking, Surrey, GU24 9NG

on the aircraft than I had originally thought I would be able to. If you’d like to build an aircraft, but find that the cost is prohibitive, there are several ways that you can reduce the overall cost. Perhaps it will take you a bit longer and you might have to put more work in, but it’s well worth it. I’ve learnt a great deal during the build and, given the chance, I might change a few things, but I would do it again. Building your own aircraft is an exceptionally satisfying experience. At the time of writing, my RV-7 is based at Netherthorpe and is waiting for the Permit to Test; I’m hoping that the first flight will be done in early September. Following the test flight phase, she will be permanently based at Sherburn-In-Elmet. (Mark’s aircraft had a successful first flight on September 17 -Ed.)

> PIONEER 400 (364-15006) 11/08/10 F Cavaciuti, The Byre, Hardwick, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 9AB > VAN’S RV-12 (363-15005) 06/08/10 IJ Donnelly, Birse Lodge Cottage, Charleston Road, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, AB34 5EL > COLOMBAN MC30 LUCIOLE (371-15007) 24/08/10 Name and address held by LAA Engineering > COLOMBAN MC30 LUCIOLE (371-15004) 06/08/10 Name and address held by LAA Engineering > TL 2000 STING CARBON (347-15003) 05/08/10 Name and address held by LAA Engineering

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OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 15

> PROJECT NEWS G-FIXX took to the air for its maiden ﬂight on August 1.

Peter Hambilton’s Van’s RV-7

2000 HOURS OF WORK ARE WORTH IT LAST month’s Cleared to Fly list featured Van’s RV-7 G-FIXX, which took to the air on its maiden flight on August 1, 2010 at 18:40 in the capable hands of Flight Lieutenant David Harvey. For Peter, this is the culmination of six years – around 2000 hours – of work. He reports, “After a minor tweak of the aileron trailing edges to cure a very slightly heavy left wing, she now flies beautifully. “Enormous thanks go to my long suffering wife Heather for allowing me to spend all that time out in the workshop with my ‘other woman’, as well as all that money. “Thanks also to my Inspector, Ernie Horsfall, who never once gave me any wrong information and who has stuck with me from the very beginning of this project. “Also, a massive thanks goes to Dave Harvey, who had no hesitation in carrying out the test flying and who did so with the utmost professionalism. ”Thanks also to the LAA, especially the Engineering Department, who have been a delight to deal with from start to finish. And thank you Van’s for producing such a great kit. “There are so many other people along the way who I am so grateful to, and they get a

mention in my build log.” If you are building an RV-7 or have an interest in the aircraft or building in general, then take a look at Peter’s extensive and informative build log www.mykitlog.com/hambilton which covers the highs and lows of the build in great (but very understandable

and readable) detail. All of the test hours (seven hours 40 minutes and 15 landings) have now been ﬂown and, by the time you read this, Peter should have his Permit. The RV-7 is possibly one of the

‘Thanks also to the LAA, especially Engineering, who have been a delight to deal with from start to finish’

G-FIXX in the workshop, all the fettling complete, ready for the paintjob.

16 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

most popular kits currently being built by LAA members and is available as a standard or quick-build option. The improving dollar exchange rate will no doubt ensure its continued popularity.

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OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 17

> PROJECT NEWS Lewis and Freya with Carolyn and Richard Grace.

Nick Smith’s Aeroprakt A22-L Foxbat (317A-14982) G-NSKB

LIFE WITH A FOXBAT BUILDER. BY KITTY EVANS NICK has been working hard throughout August, covering the flapperons and wings of our A-22 Foxbat, Kitty Belle. The workshop log records that he has spent just a little short of 40 hours cutting, covering, gluing, ironing and spraying to achieve the finish he wanted. We did have two unfortunate mishaps during this process, which required emergency deliveries of ceconite from LAS. The initial additional 5m was required because Nick cut out two of the flapperon coverings from the same length of ceconite, leaving the remaining length of fabric too narrow for the second wing covering.

The second emergency order of a further 5m was made three days later: the second wing covering had ended up on the ﬂoor of the hangar after Nick had torn it off the wing and left it in a crumpled heap in disgust. By his own admission, he didn’t follow the basic technique of fabric covering – always start from the centre of the panel and work outwards. If you start from one end, then even a small error will have snowballed 4m later and, by the time you reached the other end of the panel, it can all go terribly awry; it certainly did for Nick. He tried in vain to rescue the wing covering, ironing away at the

Nick checking the covering on the wing after many frustrating hours. 18 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

‘He tried in vain to rescue the wing covering, ironing away at the tucks, creases and bubbles’ tucks, creases and bubbles. Then, among a ﬂurry of rather colourful language (the ﬁrst such outburst of the build, so rapidly forgiven), he ripped the fabric off and ran for the kitchen phone to order the additional ceconite and some cement. Luckily, LAS were very understanding and promptly delivered again within 24 hours. They know the way to our house now. Additional hours were then incurred as the wing frame had to be cleaned and returned to a condition where it could be covered once more. Nick enlisted the help of two wannabe pilots on this task: his son Lewis and my daughter Freya. The children carefully helped him measure, cut and smooth out the fabric for the second attempt at covering the wing, and I am pleased and proud to say that it went rather well. After the brush coats of dope, Kitty Belle was off to the spray booth, bit by bit, this time for the application of the preliminary coats of dope. After advice from a local car spray shop, Nick has purchased an impressively cheap spray gun with a 1.8mm nozzle – at £28, it’s the cheapest single purchase for the project to date.

Six pieces in all were finally sprayed in just four days: rudder, two flapperons, both wings and the elevator. Nick finished spraying just in time for Ray Everitt’s visit on September 1 to inspect the job to date. After several careful hours of inspection of each panel, Ray declared the job to be fit for spraying on the finish coats. I think Nick now feels that a milestone in the project has been reached and he says that he’s looking forward to a month off the build while Kitty Belle is with Murray Flint for spraying (though I know he’ll be tinkering with the instrument panel, and I’m sure he’ll be sorting out the transfer of yours truly for the nose). As a special treat, that coincided nicely with the finish of the fabric work, Nick took me, Freya and Lewis to meet Carolyn Grace and her son Richard at Duxford, so that we could admire their beautiful Spitfire, ML 407. It turned out to be a very special day for all of us; we’d like to say a huge thank you to Carolyn and Richard Grace. We were amazed and humbled by the determination and pride the Grace family put into keeping that wonderful aeroplane flying.

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 19

> 2010 LAA SYWELL RALLY

BACK WITH A BANG! Lighting the touchpaper for the return of an annual Rally, the Sywell event was outstanding, says Brian Hope

THE first full-blown LAA Rally since Kemble 2006 was undeniably voted a magnificent success by the approximately 4000 people who attended, either by road or in the 825 visiting aircraft. Following last year’s low-key, two-day event, Sywell 2010 was planned as a full three-day Rally with many of the old favourite attractions added and, being blessed with fine weather, it proved the perfect antidote to the financial woes that seem to be coming at us from all directions. Though the event did not officially start until Friday morning, by Thursday evening there was already a good selection of arrivals, including Alister Sutherland in his immaculate FRED, G-ORAS, all the way from Fearn near Inverness in Scotland. Alister set out on Wednesday and the trip took him around eight hours in four two-hour legs. Three fellow Highland and Island Strut aircraft accompanied Alister, Nigel Campbell

in RV4 G-INTS, Mel Mackenzie and Billy Grant in the Cub G-BKET, and Paul Gibbs in the Nipper G-NIPR. Older members will recall Alister’s earlier ventures south in his VP1 to attend previous PFA Rallies and, as in the past, he and Mel proudly wore their kilts. Friday dawned foggy, so arrivals got off to a slow start, but by mid morning it was gloriously sunny and a steady stream of aircraft could be seen sliding down final, Jefff Bell and his team in the control tower being very accommodating to those who had missed ed their slot times and fitting everybody into the e circuit with ease and efficiency. Once on the ground, the slick marshalling team organised by Milton Keynes Aviation Society took over and the aircraft were parked ed with minimum delay. Many pilots chose to camp by their aircraft and make a weekend of it, and with plenty of good food outlets from mobile units to the on-site cafe and the Aviator Hotel el

RALLY HOMEBUILTS MY SELECTION PHOTOS NIGEL HITCHMAN IT IS only when you have to sit down to select about 20 homebuilts to feature in the magazine from the hundreds that ﬂew into the Rally that you realise you are probably going to upset an awful lot of people! The quality and quantity of Permit aircraft at the Rally this year was quite remarkable, so I have decided to select some of the many that caught my imagination, and hope you will agree they are a representative selection of the immense diversity that we are so fortunate to have on the LAA ﬂeet. There will be photographs of all the aircraft that attended the Rally on the photo section of the LAA website, as well as a complete list of registrations, so if you do not agree with my selection, then you have the opportunity to make up you own. Next month, we will look at Vintage, Classics and the Award winners.

How nice the Eurostar looks with a coat of paint, not possible in the 450kg microlight version. Simon Woodham’s G-UZUP is the 480kg SSEA.

The Rans Coyote ‘Super Six’ looks very slick with a conventional fabric rather than a pre-sewn pull-on covering. Power-plant is a 912S.

The Gardan Minicab was a popular plans design in the 1960s. This nicely kept example belongs to the Kestrel Flying Group at Hucknall.

20 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

LAA Chairman Roger Hopkinson welcomes Steve Noujaim to the Rally following his successful Cape Challenge record attempt , which had ended only 18 hou rs earlier at Southend.

Another ‘oldie’ is retired propeller-maker Chris Lodge’s Taylor Monoplane. Chris built ’SH in the seventies and has ﬂown her ever since.

The way we were. ‘Noddy’ is a Jodel D9 built in the miod seventies and now ﬂown out of White Waltham by Richard Newnes.

Kitfox stalwart Les James, who has built and repaired numerous Kitfoxes, brought in Mk3 G-BUOL from his private strip at Wharf Farm.

A rarity in the UK, a Van’s single-seat RV-3, built by Dan Calabritto, but now owned by Bernard Carpenter, who ﬂew in from Eastﬁeld Farm. OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 21

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> 2010 LAA SYWELL RALLY restaurant, this was not your usual rough-andready existence. Sywell really is a superb location for the Rally; its smart Art Deco style lends itself so well to the magic of personal aviation, whether old or new. I heard numerous comments about the friendly and helpful staff going out of their way to make everybody

feel so welcome – the ambiance truly was quite wonderful. New this year was the campsite, run as in days of yore by the Andover Strut. Plenty of people brought their tents and caravans with them to make use of the service, and (vitally important in the new Affordable Rally format) infrastructure costs were adequately covered.

Piper PA16 Clipper G-BIAP, ﬂown by Pete Bish from Draycott Farm, was an attendee at many past PFA Rallies.

Members will recall that escalating costs and several years of not inconsiderable losses led to the cessation of an annual rally after 2006. Clearly this was a disappointment to many of our members and a series of regional rallies to replace an annual event never really generated the hoped-for support. were working behind the Several people wer scenes, and when Sywell sc Aerodrome hosted a Ae regional event, the idea of re a joint-venture annual rally started to form. st Based on a minimal financial risk strategy for n the th Association, the Rally has in many ways R returned to its roots, a re simple, limited frills si event primarily for the ev members – and that is m a concept that certainly seems to have pressed all s the th right buttons. Another old rally favourite that returned fa this th year was the fleamarket, and what an a array of secondhand equipment found its way e onto the ever increasing o number of tables! n It was ably looked after by Keith Griffin a and a his team who, like Andover in the campsite, A were returnees from w past p rallies. It was great, too, to see s such interest in the fabric tent, another

Another quite rare machine is the Murphy Maverick, an all-metal 430kg microlight and owned by Malcolm Cann from Newquay.

The Dyn’Aero MCR01 has been around over 15 years, yet looks sleek and modern. G-CUTE ﬂew in from Shobdon in the hands of Ernest Shimmin.

Richard Fulton brought his lovely Steen Skybolt in from Brimpton. There’s nothing like a big biplane to set the heart racing!

Not as plentiful as Van’s types, but there was a good selection of SportCruisers. G-FELX, built by Terry Smith, came in from Monewden.

22 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

LAA Engineering attended in force to oﬀer advice and answer queries throughout the weekend.

returnee with Tony Young from Aircraft Coverings and Polyﬁber providing materials and expertise for members to learn the basics of aircraft covering. The exhibition was greatly increased in size from 2009 and exhibitors reported much interest from a knowledgeable crowd. Sprite Aviation, original importer of the SportCruiser into the UK, used the Rally to launch its new design: an all-metal tandem two-seater from Italian manufacturer Nando Groppo.

‘The Rally has in many ways returned to its roots, a simple, limited frills event’ The Trail is a no-nonsense high-wing bushplane with quick-folding wings and either Rotax 912, or – in UK microlight form – Jabiru power, and will sell in the UK as a

kit of pre-manufactured parts, parts rather like a standard Van’s RV kit, and is priced at under 16K Euros ﬁrewall back (excl vat). As it has yet to receive LAA approval, Francis Donaldson was able to discuss the aircraft with its Italian designer and receive a substantial dossier of design data to get the Approvals process under way. Much interest was shown in the design, and preliminary orders for eight aircraft were received over the Rally period. Throughout the Friday, many members

Lovely polished cowls of Isaac’s Fury 11, originally built by Dudley Pattison, but now owned and ﬂown by Jonathan Marten-Hale.

Not on an LAA Permit, but still a homebuilt, is Glenn Waters’ suitably registered G-ICBM Glasair Turbine, powered by an Allison C250-B17B.

What a cute little aeroplane the Christavia is. The only example ﬂying in the UK, ’ED is operated by the Barton Group from Chilbolton.

G-CCCW is the sole Pereira Osprey 2 ﬂying in the UK and was built and is ﬂown by David Southward. OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 23

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> 2010 LAA SYWELL RALLY were using their iPhones to check the progress of Steve Noujaim on his Cape Challenge ﬂight to Cape Town and return [see page 26-Ed] and it was with much relief that we learned he had made it safely back to Southend with the outbound and total elapsed records in the bag. Despite being absolutely shattered by

bar in full swing, meant the venue was packed on both evenings. So we celebrate a successful Rally, and note that it made a small surplus, which we can plough back into next year’s event to hopefully expand and improve the facilities a little. Members’ feedback has been very welcome and has suggested a number of rrelatively minor areas that need attention. n Probably the one major ‘‘favourite’ that has been mentioned and remains m tto be re-instated is the Homebuilders’ Tent, H where we can host some w part-complete projects p and provide some expert a ttuition on a range of builder sskills. This will, of course, rrely on members coming fforward and volunteering to help run it, as happened with h tthe ﬂeamarket and campsite tthis year, but we’ll publish more on these innovations m once the Rally Committee o has had time to consider the h possibilities. p For now, let’s simply savour those three days sa early in September when e the weather gods played ball th and we all gathered on the an hallowed turf of Sywell for a h Rally to remember. R The Aircraft Coverings I expect in 30 years’ time Polyﬁber fabric tent they will be saying, “Do you th drew many members remember the good ol’ days re keen to learn the secrets of the second coming of the of fabric covering. Sywell rallies?” Sy

the record attempt, Steve valiantly ﬂew into the Rally on Saturday afternoon and stayed over to present the prizes at the Awards Presentation held in the plush ‘Hangar 1’ that evening. As on Friday evening, a very reasonably priced meal was laid on and musical entertainment provided, which, with the

The neatest Wilksch diesel cowling I have seen on any installation is the one that graces Peter Fines’ homebuilt Jodel Mascaret, G-RIVE.

Loud and proud, the only RV-8A ﬂying in the UK belongs to Chris Garrison who ﬂew in from Weston Zoyland.

The simple but eﬀective one-colour paint scheme with trim-lines shines nicely on Andy Phillips’ (of Andair) Van’s RV-7.

The Tecnam Sierra enjoys a steady popularity and is well thought of for its handling charms. G-TEMB is owned by Mervyn Hill.

24 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

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OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 25

> CAPE CHALLENGE

Cape Town and back in a Van’s RV-7 Southend to Cape Town and back in 3½ days in a homebuilt aircraft is the stuff of dreams and d nightmares. Steve Noujaim shares his journey and the fearsome dramas of the return leg Regular readers will know that my plans for this record attempt have been delayed twice – once last year due to aircraft preparation and then, frustratingly, earlier this year due to fuel logistics in Brazzaville. By the time I departed, South African Chalkie Stobbart had already broken Alex Henshaw’s 1939 record by a substantial margin – and I knew this was not going to be an easy record to reclaim. By August, I was confident the logistics problems had been solved and my aircraft was ready, having been extensively test flown. It was time to go. The Challenge turned out to be not what I expected. I knew that it would be a tough series of flights, but I was unprepared for the emotions I felt and the relentless concentration required. Discomfort was a factor, but it was the mental aspect I found shocking. I am so glad to be back and to have achieved my dream by meeting Alex Henshaw’s Challenge and joining the only other living Cape Record holder, Chalkie Stobbart, in the history books. This article shares the plan, the aircraft, the people, and the journey. It contains many acknowledgements to the folks involved as, without them, it could never have happened.

THE PLAN I always knew that the RV7 was not as fast as the Mew Gull or GP4, but that the RV was lighter and had a better load-carrying capability. The ﬂexibility and all-round performance of G-IIXF allowed me to carry the fuel to plan a two-stop strategy. I measured and plotted the great circle distance to Cape Town and equally divided the legs to generate the re-fuelling stops at Tamanrasset and Pointe Noire, later changed to Brazzaville to solve some logistical problems; this made each leg about 1800nm via airways. I felt two hours was a reasonable time to rest and refuel, as was 10 hours to sleep and service my RV in Cape Town. As it transpired,

26 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

we weren’t far wrong; I could not have spent much less time on the ground. In the flight planning and ops department, thanks go to Gill and Martin Courage of Aerodynamics for Flight plans and Satellite communications; Martin was invaluable for weather advice, particularly on the fifth leg. Colin Wood and Tobin Berry of NATS helped with ATC, and Mike Grey of White Rose, who organised the over flight permissions, which had been a worry for me.

THE AIRCRAFT As XF is easier to ﬂy than a Mew Gull or GP4, I felt that fatigue would be reduced. XF is powered by a 200hp air-cooled Lycoming, burning 34 litres of Avgas an hour at max continuous rpm. Cruising speed varies from 171kts to 176kts depending on weight, but performance is reduced in higher temperatures.

The avionics, Th i i provided id d b by G Garmin i and d are the homebuilt version of the G1000 Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS), were a lifesaver on the trip, and I found the synthetic vision system and stormscope absolutely essential. XF ran like a sewing machine throughout the event, although the autopilot was unable to fly the aircraft accurately at high gross weights; engaging the autopilot at any time during the first four-five hours of a sector resulted in a loss of 2-4kts. But, from a safety point of view, it was invaluable and I would highly recommend the Trutrak system. The ACS Angle of Attack system was also invaluable as a way of maximising performance and to check I had reached my optimum CG position. Over the last year, we effectively rebuilt XF. We took off most of the alleged ‘go faster’ items, and fixed long-range equipment, rewired and tested, adjusted, serviced and generally fettled her to the standard she is today. Many thanks go to Manuel Queiroz (who had flown his RV6 around the world in 2006), to Will Butler, my engineer and LAA Inspector for all his help and advice, and, of course, the LAA team for helping clear the inevitable paperwork involved in the substantial increase in max take-off mass resulting from the additional fuel capacity. Thanks also to Nigel Lamb for his advice on the inlets and to Martin Carolan for making such a beautiful job of constructing them – 3kts is a lot of added speed for a small change.

‘The event was not the kind of adventure we imagine when reading an exciting novel’

Record times LONDON-CAPE TOWN Alex Henshaw 1939: 39 hours 23 minutes Chalkie Stobbart 2009: 36 hours 15 minutes Steve Noujaim 2010: 35 hours 6 minutes – NEW RECORD CAPE TOWN–LONDON Alex Henshaw 1939: 39 hours 36 minutes Chalkie Stobbart 2009: 36 hours 35 minutes – RETAINS THE RECORD* Steve Noujaim 2010: 36 hours 34 minutes ROUND TRIP Alex Henshaw 1939: 4 days 10 hours 16 mins Chalkie Stobbart 2009: 3 days 15 hours 17 mins Steve Noujaim 2010: 3 days 11 hours 16 mins – NEW RECORD * FAI rules stipulate records must be broken by at least 1% Ab Above: EEarly l on the th return, t sunrise i over Namibia. Right: Fellow record chaser Chalkie Stobbart treated me royally in SA The engine information and how to operate it came from Andy Higgs (a Formula 1 engine designer) of the AC Corporation. Ronaldson Airmotive provided some spares and replacements at cost and I am grateful to them. Importantly – so far as web viewers are concerned – Dennis Jankelow and his team at Indigosat provided free tracking, while Tim Davies, my web designer in Thailand, and Tim and Julia Jackson in South Africa, took care of the internet tracking that allowed so many to ‘join’ me on the journey. Technology really provided me with an advantage over our intrepid ’30s aviators – although there was a similar risk of having a catastrophic failure, at least people knew where I was if I had one!

THE JOURNEY The event was not the kind of adventure we imagine when reading an exciting novel. For me, it was a lifetime achievement, but it is something I never want to repeat! The sky-high moments were few and far between, interspersed mostly by fear and dread (engine failure). I pretty much knew that for large portions of the ﬂight, if the engine stopped, I would have to jump out and take my

chance. I insisted, much to the amazement of many people, that I would wear a parachute – thanks Paul Morgan! My gut feeling was that the chances of disappearance and death were as high as 40%; this and my responsibilities to my wife Anna were uppermost in my mind. For me, it was all about doing my best and never shirking or giving up. Oddly, the ﬁrst leg to TMS was the hardest (thanks for taking the time to chat, Syd B on the Speedbird). I don’t mind admitting that I had an emotional crisis three hours from the re-fuelling stop; I wondered what the hell I was doing risking all that I have. I arrived in TMS, had something to eat and drink and felt a good

deal better. Sam Rutherford from Prepare2go organised the positioning of fuel – and the servicing of the pilot! He had the aircraft refuelled and ready to go within an hour. The run overnight to Brazza had a strange calming effect on me. I was pleased that we were ahead of schedule and Cb (Cumulonimbus cloud) activity on the route took out the airway dog-leg to Agades, allowing me to carry straight on to South Eastern Nigeria. I thanked my lucky stars as I saw ﬂashing boiling clouds bursting well away from my track. There was some pelting rain and turbulence, but nothing too challenging. We descended into Brazza at 185kts and I self-positioned straight to the centre ﬁx, handsomely beating an Angolan jet on to 05R. I suffered the worst ‘leans’ I had experienced since training on the F4 – tired I guess; I told myself to knuckle down and concentrate… In Brazzaville, Stuart Smith and Hennie Delport had organised the delivery of Avgas and Ben Ahmadou and his team looked after me. I snatched a shower and 20 minutes’ sleep and was back in and off at 0500Z with the sun coming up; I felt good. I blasted down through Angola, trimmed XF out and decided I would treat myself to some cold ‘boil in a bag’ chocolate pudding. I looked and looked but found no spoon or fork – I know we had packed one – so resorted to using my BAA airline ID as a shovel. Angola was out in fog for around four

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 27

> CAPE CHALLENGE

hours, but as I crossed into Namibia the desert appeared and ‘what a magnificent desolation’ (Neil Armstrong). More happily, there were some very long straight roads to land on in the event of an engine failure. I even reckoned that I could carry out repairs and get airborne again. I passed my en-route alternate of Windhoek, but Cape Town was a long time coming. Crossing into South Africa, I contacted Jo’burg and was promptly given a direct to the initial approach fix at Cape Town. I thought, ‘Great, nearly there,’ but when I checked, we still had around 400 miles to go. After a quick fuel and destination weather check I decided to increase the rpm to 2450 and go a bit faster. Sure enough, Cape Town turned up; there was a little weather to think about with the high safety altitudes, but great ATC saw me join downwind for runway 01 at around 190kts. ATC let me cut in front of the Comair 737 at four miles – thank you Ma’am – for a flapless landing and quick exit so she didn’t have to go around. I taxied to Signature and thought quite seriously about how easy it would be to take the wings off and ship the little RV home in a container. Chalkie never told me it would be this hard. In Cape Town, I was so happy to be met by

28 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

Chalkie Stobbart and his wife Maureen, and the hug I got from her was something I really needed. The fabulous welcome committee consisted of family, more friends, and the press. I was also very grateful to Mike and Tony for bringing the GP4 to Cape Town – it really is a lovely piece of gear and a credit to them. Interestingly, both aircraft have only ever met at Southend and Cape Town, and probably never will again.

ONE RECORD DOWN I was elated to have broken the southbound record and was happy to chat for a while before heading off to bed. Tiaan Kotze of Signature Flight Support Cape Town took care of all the costs I incurred while I was there and chauffeured me where I needed to go. BP paid for 250 litres of fuel and Chalkie took care of the rest – proper golden age etiquette I reckon. XF was wheeled into a hangar and Will, my engineer had ﬂown in from UK, along with Robin Coss and Damon, who build RVs (sanctioned by the regulator in SA), serviced her. I woke up at around 0200Z, looked out of the window and saw, to my disappointment, much reduced visibility and driving rain. I had a word with myself and determined to get home as quickly and safely as possible.

HOMEWARD HO OMEWARD BOUND We had some hassle getting immigration out of bed, I had a mouthful of fruit salad, strapped in in the hangar and, having been pushed out into the rain, started up and began the way home. As I took off in the darkness and rain, I knew XF was going well. I felt good and said to myself, “Only another 36 hours and I will be home.” As the sun rose, I felt ready for the northbound challenge. The first leg went quickly, and I actually did some sightseeing. The team were ready for me when I arrived at Brazza, where I elected to take an extra hour’s rest; firstly, because I was tired, and secondly – probably incorrectly – to allow the equatorial Cb activity to die down. I knew that this fifth sector was going to be the hardest of the whole journey and, with safety in mind, I wanted to be ready for it. Ben, for the second time – and gratis – organised a hotel, so I took the chance to take a shower and sleep for 90 minutes. I did have a moment’s scare, though, when the bathroom door shut behind me and locked, there being no handle in the door! I had visions of the record attempt being stopped in its tracks because the pilot was locked in the bog. Fortunately, Ben managed to get me out. I returned to the airfield to receive a very professional Met brief from the Ops man, but my heart sank when I saw the equatorial

Clockwise from far left: Self portrait in the cockpit of XF, my home for nearly four days; magnificent desolation of the Namibian desert; the Sahara, vast, orange and forbidding; ten-minute nap at TMS before the final leg home. satellite picture and I immediately called Martin Courage on the Satphone. Martin assured me that I would be busy, but he felt that if we worked together and I used the stormscope all would be well. I took off full of fear and doubt. A few hours into the sector all my worst fears were realised: XF and I fought a pitched battle for nearly five hours. I decided to burn off the big centre tank to keep the CG forward and make the aircraft less pitch sensitive. There were times when I thought we were finished, but I think that much of the drama was more a result of personal turmoil than the actual conditions, although I never again want to see 2,000fpm rate of descent at full power with an 11,300ft MSA (minimum safety altitude). We bottomed out at 12,200ft. The rain was incredible; I couldn’t hear the engine and I could see lightning shooting across the nose and out to the right. All the while, Martin was quietly advising and generally boosting my morale. We arrived abeam Jos some 30 miles east of track and I thought it was all over. We were shipping water and my teeth were chattering with the cold. What an aeroplane is the RV-7! I had drawn on every ounce of my fast-jet instrument flying experience; the poor autopilot had not been able to cope, so I just put a towel over my head and the coaming,

shut out the world, and flew instruments. Nothing else mattered – just me, XF, and staying in one piece for Anna. North of Kano, I noticed more flashing on the horizon; this time, I would have to go to Agades and fly the dogleg. It was really nice to talk to “Stumpy” Stirton on the VIR 602 and get a few airfield weathers. It was bumpy, but I managed to stay east of the squall line; I thought we would be okay, until the standby alternator light came on. We were running near to the 20-Amp limit. The last thing I wanted was to fly a VOR approach into TMS on standby instruments with 12,200ft mountains close by, so I load shed everything I could: cockpit lights, navigation lights, strobes, transponder and dropped the current to 9 Amps. I pulled out my iPad and called up the TMS approach plates for Runway 02. I was ready. I had fuel to hold until sunrise. Finally, the weather abated and I could see Tamanrasset in the distance so, in the end, I flew the VOR but at high speed. On short finals, I turned the lights on and did the best landing of the trip. But how was I going to get home with no alternator?

ALMOST THERE While Sam and his team re-fuelled XF, I took the top cowl off and checked the alternator belt and all the electrical connections; all appeared well.

I reset the standby alternator push-button and checked all the circuit breakers – again, nothing was amiss. So I elected to get some food, have ten minutes’ sleep and think. I awoke and gave the Courages a call; the weather promised to be beautiful. I would launch at sunrise and come back on the standby alternator. Decision made, I strapped in for the ﬁnal leg, turned on the master switch and started the engine. I thought I would try the primary alternator, and it started with no problems (I have an electronic voltage protection system and Chalkie reckons I may have had a voltage spike the previous night causing it to shut down). As I taxied out, I realised with some sadness that I had not said a proper goodbye to Sam and the team. I took off using the full length of runway 20 and noted the now-familiar poor rate of climb and the high oil temperature, but we were on our way home and we had time in hand. There were some big towering Cu (cumulus clouds) and a headwind to negotiate, but I thought it was pretty much in the bag, especially when I spotted a line of convergence – gliding is useful – just off the airway centre-line. So I parked XF under it, to be rewarded with a 180kt groundspeed. Algerian ATC was not able to give me any

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 29

> CAPE CHALLENGE

directs so, as I arrived at the FIR boundary, I was looking forward to a direct Perpignan or even Evreux. The G900 showed an ETA of around 1525Z – good news. Imagine how I felt on contacting Barcelona to be told that they had no knowledge of me and that I was to clear controlled airspace… welcome to Europe! Despite many attempts to ask for help, I had to descend to low level, clear Palma airspace and make my own way to BGR. I got on the Satphone to Gill and she re-ﬁled, but I was losing time. Eventually, I raised a mate in Toulouse – thanks Frank – and he briefed ATC in that sector. Having cut across to Limoges, the ATC there couldn’t have been less interested and told me ‘no directs available. Do what you like, but remain clear of controlled airspace,’ and, no, he wasn’t going to tell me where it was unless I infringed it! Bottom line, all the weaving about cost me 20 minutes or so. When I called Paris Information they were very helpful. I set 200fpm rate of descent; the

30 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

Above: Job done and a wonderful welcome from friends and family. Very different emotions to the concentration in Southend 3 days, 11 hours and 16 minutes previously (below) when Steve first fired up XF. weather was beautiful and we were making real progress at last. As I coasted out of France, I could see the white cliffs, and Gill was on the phone. I was tight on fuel, but reckoned I could push up to 2600rpm – I had to get in before 1555Z. I made a quick jink around Headcorn, and Southend advised me to fly over the tower for my final time-check. I could almost see Chalkie catching me up! It was taking forever. I could see the Thames Estuary in the distance and Gravesend was out to the left (a big salute to Alex). XF loved the reduced temperature and I had to throttle back as I crossed the line at Southend doing 200kts. We were home.

WELCOME SIGHT I felt huge relief as I cleared the runway at Southend and saw Anna; only then did I feel a glimmer of accomplishment, for it was she who had made me want to get back so badly. I derived huge pleasure from seeing Manuel (the designer of the long-range tank system) beaming like a small boy, and, of course, Martin Barraclough, the former owner of the Mew Gull and the man who kept my dream on track by organising my sponsorships. I was also proud to see that my two good friends Bonhomme and Pod had flown two Spitfires into Southend (many thanks to the owners). There was a fleet of RVs there, too, as well as my mates Richard King, Steve Neale and Mike Barnard with Claudia. Lyndon Griffith was there taking pictures, as usual, and Jacqui Harris from the Roslin Beach Hotel had organised champagne and food. There, too, were James Wakeford (who had looked after Anna for me) and Edward Leigh, Mark Jefferies, Chris Hadlow from Fly2help (who was a student of mine at Church Fenton), Colin Wood and Tobin Berry from NATS, my mum and dad, Anna’s father Roy and myriad friends. It was particularly good to see Martin and Gill Courage, my Satphone life-savers. After it was all over, Manuel taxied XF off to the hangar and we went to the Roslin Beach for supper. As I enjoyed my steak, I missed my brilliant little aeroplane, which, over the 3 days, 11 hours and 16 minutes, had changed from machine to real person. Thanks XF. I was stunned by how many people had followed my flight on the website and blog. Each viewer, and the many who were directly involved, were all part of a team that combined to make the Cape Challenge an exciting success. I did not realise that things would get so close; indeed, while I actually crossed the line on the northbound Cape Town to London leg just 1 minute ahead of Chalkie, I did not break his record; FAI rules stipulate that records must be broken by at least 1%. My records are, of course, still subject to ratification.

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> PHOTOGRAPHY

PICTURE A BIRD

When LAA member John Crabb bought a new camera, his love of flying inspired him to capture images of the ultimate flying machines in action

HAVE you ever dreamt you could fly? Not just climb into an aeroplane and clatter away, but daringly raise yourself on tiptoe, lean forward, spread your arms and, this is the tricky part, let yourself fall forward as you lift your toes from the ground and let the air take your weight. There you are, suspended, somewhat unsteadily, horizontally above the ground: hovering. I think many people must have had dreams like this; I used to and they were very convincing. The notion of flying seems to be deeply embedded in the human psyche. Sometimes, it would take two cups of coffee at breakfast before the delusion faded away. Of course, we can and do fly and find it an exciting, challenging and satisfying experience, but not without a flying machine. Only a few years ago, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of powered flight. We justly marvelled at the progress made in such a short time, but we can also marvel at what millions of years of evolution has achieved for birds. Birds are consummate flying machines. Every aspect of their physiology has been fine tuned by natural selection to suit them perfectly for flight. While birds and aeroplanes

32 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010 3

both have wings, they are very different structures. I think my Jodel’s wing is a marvel of innovative aeronautical design and engineering, but it does not compare with the complexity and finesse of a bird’s wing. I am a birdwatcher as well as a pilot. When I acquired a better camera at the beginning of this year, my plan was to continue photographing birds perched on poles and bushes or floating in lakes. Somehow, though, I was uninspired by the prospect and sought direction from other photographers’ images stashed in their millions on the web. It was not long before I realised the exciting thing was to catch birds in flight, but after a few experiments with gulls and red kites I was still uninspired. Photographing big birds in flight, while not easy, is possible with effort, and yet what you get is what you saw at the time: a big bird with its wings spread. Boring. So I started trying to

‘In-flight pictures allow the viewer to see small birds as seldom before’

capture images of small garden birds in flight. A quick look around the web told me that hardly anyone is doing this, and with good reason – it is difficult. Yet the results can be amazing because they allow the viewer to see small birds as seldom before. Little brown birds that simply buzz by in the garden, when frozen in flight by the camera, turn out to be flying machines every bit as perfect and majestic as eagles. They are also a lot more colourful and interesting than most people seem to believe. I set about trying to do it – and I have become so engrossed that my flying hours have dropped markedly this year! I have spent much time on this new venture. The first problem with photographing birds is their speed in flight. I simply do not have the reactions to point and track a small bird’s flight and capture it while it is still near enough not to be a disappearing dot in the frame. But while they have millions of years of evolution on their side, I had cunning. I started designing and making devices that I could link to my camera to trigger a shot when the bird was roughly in the right place. My first device was a pivoting twig that operated a micro-switch under the bird’s weight, and released it as it flew away. My early images were blurred and

Pilot and photographer John Crabb unsatisfactory, yet immensely exciting! Even back then, I was constantly delighted and surprised by what was being revealed to me about my unassuming garden visitors. Gradually, I developed switched bird tables, devices using light beams, laser beams and simply the light of the sky. Then I built a comprehensive electronic pulse-handling circuit to allow more flexibility and control... I will have to write a book one day. Rapidly, as I began to see what the problems were, I understood more and more about the way the camera had to be used, and my images improved. If I had used high-speed electronic flash, the project would have been easy, but I developed an early dislike for the quality of flash photos of birds in flight. They look frozen and lifeless, so all my images are taken in natural light. Now, here’s a funny thing. All the while I was trying to get better and better images, driven on by the massive excitement of what I was already achieving, I overlooked the fact that we had a friendly robin which regularly came to feed from our hands. I was ignoring a significant photographic opportunity. I quickly contrived a simple set-up. I pushed a short bamboo cane into the lawn, which was to be my feeding point, and I focused the camera on its top. I then stood next to

the cane with the back of one hand resting on top. The robin would fly into a nearby tree and, when I opened my hand to reveal food, would fly down to perch on my finger tips. As it swooped, I triggered a remote switch that I was holding in the other hand. By these means I was starting to get some really dramatic shots. This proved to be something of a turning point. I was already uploading some of my shots to an on-line gallery (Flickr), but as soon as I uploaded the first image of the robin, feet outstretched, about to land on my fingers, there was a surge in interest from other site users. The big difference was the introduction of a human element to the picture. The image, and others that followed, are poignant in that they portray the moment when a wild creature decides to commit itself to the dangers of contact with a human. In the words of one comment made on the site, the presence

‘As the robin swooped, I triggered a remote switch that I was holding in the other hand’

of the hand “turns something great into something amazing.” All the pictures, though, reveal the marvel of the birds’ adaptations for flight. Feathers are much more miraculous a device than I had ever realised. They are proverbially light, yet strong and flexible to exactly the right degree for the loads they have to bear. Their complex structure can be seen in many of the pictures, as can their flexing under aerodynamic forces. But the real marvel of feathers is the way that they can at one moment form a perfect air-tight flying surface, with the wing outstretched, and then in the next be folded away neatly to become an unobtrusive feature of the body; the feathers sliding precisely over one another. If you have ever tried to de-rig a three-axis microlight, it is enough to make you envious. In between these two extremes they form a wing of almost infinitely variable geometry. Some of the photos in my collection also hint at the extreme manoeuvrability of small birds. They twist and contort themselves through ridiculously tight turns, sometimes even flying inverted for a few moments. So this is just the start of an adventure every bit as exciting and challenging as flying, but without the scud and looming high ground. If you would like to see more of my images, just visit http://johncrabb.jalbum.net.

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 33 3

> FLIGHT TEST

34 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

WORDS Stan Hodgkins PHOTOS Dave Spurdens

ADAM’S AUSTER COMES HOME G-APRO is a famous Auster, once owned by the President of the PFA no less. After 25 years in the USA, it’s back in the UK and on an LAA Permit

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 35

> FLIGHT TEST ‘The Permit was awarded in time for the Rally – the first time it’s flown in the UK this century!’

I GOT to know Adam Wankowski several years ago thanks to the Flitzer. I had been ‘schmitten’ with the little biplane and found out that he was well into construction of one only a mile or so away from me. His enthusiasm was infectious and soon I had obtained the wood and most of the metal bits to build one of my own. However due to various factors, such as building a new house, my project is on hold at the moment. Adam continued to make rapid progress and also learned to fly at Clacton on the Super Cub at the same time! On obtaining his licence he then thought he would like a vintage two-seater to fly while still building the Flitzer and asked me what I would recommend. I immediately suggested a Luscombe (see Light Aviation December 2008) but Adam’s wife, Heather fancied something old and British so G-APRO eventually came home from the USA, bought from John Morris, an English Flitzer builder living in Connecticut. The Auster series of aircraft were initially licence-built Taylorcraft machines produced just before WWII and had a number of different powerplants. During the war they served in many theatres carrying out artillery spotting and general liason work. The most popular variant was the Lycoming-powered Auster 5 which made up over half of the 1600 wartime Austers. The 145-hp Gypsy Major VII-powered AOP Mk 6 appeared in 1946, with larger fuel tanks, longer landing gear legs, and large trailing-edge flaps. From 1946 to 1953, the RAF took delivery of 312 AOP 6s and used them primarily for target spotting. Their short field take-off and landing capabilities gave them great versatility in this role. The AOP 6 saw combat in Korea and Malaya during the 1950s. On arrival at Felixtowe in January the aircraft was taken to nearby Great Oakley for assembly and the necessary work required for the issue

36 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

Top left: The Auster’s ‘rocking thingy’ ﬂight control. Right: Picture perfect over north Norfolk’s coast.

of a Permit to Fly. Thankfully expert help was available from Richard Kimberley and Al Mathie. Of course this always takes longer than you think and there were a couple of complications. G-APRO did not have dual controls so they had to be fitted and, worst of all, the LAA insisted that the crankshaft be removed for inspection. This delayed things and at no little cost. Eventually the machine was successfully test-flown and after minor adjustments the Permit awarded in time for the Rally at Sywell, its first UK outing this century! G-APRO, formerly WJ 370, has been in civilian colours since its demob in 1959 and still looks very smart in silver and black some 25 years after it was restored in 1985. I have had the odd

trip in various Austers over the years but never actually checked out in one and I was looking forward to doing so. I did however build a Kitfox and they were obviously related to the original Taylorcraft design. The wing struts, fuselage tube geometry and undercarriage seem to be almost identical in all three designs. Austers in general have welded steel tube fuselages and tail surfaces and wooden-sparred wings with metal ribs. Controls are cable operated and the port elevator has a simple trim tab. A similar tab on the starboard elevator is interconnected with the flap lever. This counteracts the nose-down trim change when flaps are lowered. The AOP 6 has large metal flaps hinged behind the mainplane which replaced the split flaps of the earlier models. The landing gear is bungee sprung with no damping and the tailwheel is mounted on a leaf spring. It was originally fully castoring but G-APRO has the usual steering facility via the rudder pedals. Wheel-brakes are cable

operated. Fuel is carried in two wing tanks of 11.5 imp gals (52 litres) each in the wing roots. They are interconnected and individual tanks cannot be selected. A Hoffman ‘cruise’ propeller is fitted to the Gypsy Major. CUSHION NEEDED Entering the cockpit was very reminiscent of the Kitfox but with the aid of a step and a strap-handle on the windscreen pillar. In order to reach the pedals I needed a cushion. The seats are adjusted up and forward by a huge low-geared wheel on the front of the seat but I needed a bit more. The cabin is positively spacious with Perspex all around, as you would expect for an observation machine. Looking forward, the narrow nose and high seating position offers a very good view of the ground. The first impression is definitely a vintage one. The instrument panel is very reminiscent of the dashboard of a 1930s car and with the narrow nose it reminded me of looking down

‘The first impression is definitely vintage – like looking down the bonnet of a 1930s Austin 7’ the bonnet of an Austin 7! The seats however are upholstered in a modern fashion in a smart black fabric. Behind the pilots’ seats is a spacious baggage compartment with an originally swivelling passenger seat - it is now ﬁxed. This gives a fantastic view to the rear but I’m afraid no machine gun is provided. In front of the pilots is the distinctive Auster tubular rocking ‘thingy’ which works the ﬂying controls through a suitable system of levers, cables and pulleys. Behind the left seat rudder pedals are the heel-brake pedals. The panel is divided into two by a very agricultural-looking throttle quadrant. This also includes a mixture

lever working in the opposite sense to most modern aircraft. Rich is back and lean is forward and there is an interconnection which automatically moves the mixture to rich when the throttle is closed - as per Chipmunk. On the left of the panel is another vintage touch, the parking brake - I’m sure it comes straight from a Ford V8 Pilot of the 1950s. The left hand stick is tall with a big black PTT, but the right stick is shorter to avoid interference with the throttle quadrant which is offset to the right. On the floor to the pilot’s left is a fuel cock – on or off only. On the left sub panel are the flight instruments which consist of ASI, altimeter and the huge Reid and Sigrist turn and bank indicator, together with the revcounter, magneto switches and a clock. Above the quadrant is the oil pressure gauge (ex-Spitfire) and the starter button. The right hand sub panel holds the Becker radio, large ground/flight switch, carburetter heat control, oil temperature and electrical gauges.

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 37

> FLIGHT TEST

Between the seats is the three position ﬂap lever and above the panel is the P12 magnetic compass. Directly overhead is the Morris 8 window winder that operates the elevator trim and in the wing roots are the fuel gauges. They are rather hidden away and it is advisable to carry a torch to view the contents. Starting the engine is easy after priming by lifting the bonnet, depressing the ‘tickler’ and operating the priming lever(s). With the fuel cock ‘on’, throttle set, mags on and press the button. The engine sounds very throaty and the throttle is set to idle at 1000rpm. Trying the ﬂying controls, the elevator was light but there was noticeable friction in the aileron circuit which is inevitable with cable operation. Taxiing was straightforward with the rudder-connected steering but using the heel-brakes was awkward when making tight turns. The view forward was excellent but with the seat set high, looking to the left just gave a good view of the wing root. It was necessary to bend forward so that I could see under the wing – it was then that I realised why the seat went up and down. At the hold the engine was run up to 1500rpm and mags and carb heat checked. The latter seemed to make very little difference, but as it is left in ‘hot’ it can be forgotten. With an empty

38 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

‘Looking to the left just gave a good view of the wing root. It was necessary to bend forward to see’

weight of around 1500lb, two light occupants and half fuel we weighed in at about 1950lb. With a max all up weight of 2300lb, this still left us with another 350lb of payload available - this aeroplane will carry 800lb! We set flaps up for a normal takeoff. Half-flap should be used for a short one. The rest of the pre-takeoff checks are minimal and off we went. With full power very little left rudder was needed to keep straight, the tail was lifted at about 25kt and the aircraft became airborne at around 40kt. Initial climb was at 50kt and then at the recommended 65kt. Conditions were a little turbulent but as we climbed to 3000 feet, 900 were achieved in the last minute. During the climb the view ahead was first class but it was quite an effort to peer under the wings. The trouble was that the seat up/ down adjustment took forever! Noise level was reasonable but the poor radio reception did not help - this has now been fixed. It was easy to hold climbing speed and a little rudder was needed for coordinated turns. I tried a few medium turns and as it says in the pilot’s notes, the elevator is light but the ailerons are ‘rather heavy and sluggish although effective’. Tighter turns were preferable, the higher angle of bank enabling the pilot to see in the direction of turn through

Owner Adam gets ready to swing the prop of the Auster once he hears ‘Contact!’ from pilot Stan Hodgkins. Below, ﬂip the switch at the right time!

the roof. The rudder forces are light and it is easy to over-control. Stalling was next and we tried power off stalls clean and with flap. The clean stall occurred at 40kt IAS with little warning, just a positive nose drop and no wing drop. Selecting flap produced a noticeable nose-down trim change despite the compensating elevator tab but the trimmer was very quick and positive – once you have figured out which way to turn the handle. With flap set to takeoff or fully down the stall was the same but at around 35kt. Under typical approach conditions with takeoff flap and power on the aircraft stalled at an incredible 30kt and with a very high nose up attitude - you would be crazy to do it inadvertently! Spinning was allowed in service but is prohibited by the Permit to Fly, and Vne has also been reduced from 165kt to 127kt in deference to ‘RO’s great age. The AOP 6 is positively stable in pitch and returns to level flight in about one cycle. Stability in the other two axes is also positive. The wing can easily be picked up with rudder alone and it is pleasant to fly along hands off and control bank and direction with your feet. Normal cruise is 90kt with 1900rpm and a fuel consumption of 6gph. ‘RO has a cruise prop and 2300rpm gives 110kt but at much higher fuel

> FLIGHT TEST consumption. Endurance speed is 55kt with a fuel burn of only 3.4gph. Returning to Crowfield we dived to the 127kt limit which was quite uneventful, apart from the marked increase in aileron forces. The elevator remained light and care would be needed to avoid overstressing on any dive recovery. I throttled back and set the Auster in a 55kt glide, which seemed about right for minimum rate of descent. The aeroplane was very reluctant to lose height and with some obvious turbulence and thermals about we seemed to stay at 2000 feet for ages. Eventually we settled into the glide with a rate of descent considerably less than 500fpm. Selecting flap produced a marked nose-down trim change and the rate of descent increased big time. On joining the circuit we did the minimal downwind checks and set the flaps to takeoff below 70kt Vfe, reducing to 50kt on base leg. The view over the nose was first class but it was necessary to lift the wing Cessna-style to see to the sides. Full flap was lowered on final and the speed allowed to reduce to the 40kt threshold speed. At these low speeds there is considerable adverse yaw and rudder must be used in conjunction with aileron for directional corrections. The pilot’s notes do not mention the use of full flap, but there is a warning of avoiding high rates of descent early in the approach as considerable power may be required to recover. Also with takeoff flap, only the elevator is more effective for the flare and hold-off. Nevertheless the three-point landing is not difficult and the aircraft stops very quickly, with a ground roll of about 100 metres. During the war Austers were operated out of 150-yard strips and the ground crew would sometimes leap onto the struts to stop the machine! Austers have reputation for bouncing and I think (with my vast experience of one trip!) it is probably due to elevator authority – or lack of it in certain combinations of cg position and flap setting. If it were mine I would experiment with a tool-bag in the back. A touch and go proved easily done with little tendency to swing – rudder authority is massive. For the photography I changed to the right seat, simply due to the restricted view from the left seat. Formating on the starboard wing of the Cessna it was then possible to look up at the cameraship through the cabin roof. It is always tricky when both aircraft have high wings and the picture possibilities are unavoidably limited. The Auster’s rather heavy ailerons coupled with the shortened stick made formation flying quite hard work but hopefully the pictures turned out OK.

Big wing gives the Auster great gliding ability – and ﬂoat on landing if a bit fast!

GREAT VINTAGE FUN To sum up, I think Adam’s Auster is just great vintage fun and at the same time a very practical touring machine, well suited to grass strips, with a third seat and bags of baggage. I think that with practice it would make any tailwheel pilot feel very much at home and it does give a deﬁnite feeling of security. G- APRO is quite a famous example of the breed with a military history (see page 42) and attracts attention wherever it goes. It can also run on mogas! Finally thanks go to Andrew Williamson for letting us hire his C152 for the cameraship and for the use of his beautifully maintained grass at Crowﬁeld International.

Author Stan Hodgkins ﬂew the photo sortie in the right seat to see out of the clear roof panel.

LOOKING THROUGH THE LOGBOOKS: THIS AUSTER HAS GREAT MEMORIES. SEE P42 40 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

october 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 41

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24/9/10 09:47:15

> FLIGHT TEST

THE AUSTER’S WORLD TRAVELS

Japan in ‘53, back to the UK, out to Cyprus... and that was just the start of G-APRO’s long and illustrious career

WORDS Adrian Bleese Main pic: The Auster in September 1954 in... Korea. Above: Flying in the US with John Morris.

AUSTER AOP 6 serial number AUS.116.FM was born into a world of rationing, London pea-soupers and National Service. The second Elizabethan age was just a few weeks old when she first appeared in the records, doing her national service as WJ370, wearing brown and green camouflage and the markings of 657 Squadron, Royal Air Force. In May 1953 she found herself for the first time, though definitely not for the last, on board a ship as the SS Benattow headed for Iwakuni in Japan. From there it was just an hour’s flying to the airbase at Sungnam (known as K-16) where she first saw active service as part of 1903 Flight. In January of 1955 she returned to the UK, and the Fighter Command Communications flight at RAF Middle Wallop in Hampshire, shortly before her squadron was re-numbered and rebadged as 651 Squadron, Royal Air Force. It was with this squadron, now as part of 1913 Flight, that she was transported once more, this time in sand and brown desert camouflage, to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, from where she took part in the Suez campaign. She returned to the UK at a time of change; the formation of the Army Air Corps on 1 September 1957 meant that 651 Squadron was no longer part of the RAF and she was now one of the Army Air Corps’ first aircraft. It wasn’t to last long, though, as she was entered into the non-effective stock of aircraft

42 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

stored at No 19 Maintenance Unit at RAF St Athan in South Wales in the Spring of 1958. This marked the end of her short service career but the dawn of a very new life. On Bonfire Night 1958 she was purchased by Air Commodore Allen H Wheeler CBE, MA, FRAeS who had joined the Royal Air Force in 1925 after taking an Engineering Degree at Cambridge. Army co-operation aircraft were nothing new to him as he had originally flown Bristol Fighters in that role after training on the Avro 504K. He had taken part in the D-Day landings when he was Officer Commanding RAF Fairford and, after the war, he took up various command posts at experimental and testing establishments before retiring in 1955. He continued to work as a consultant to the Air Registration Board and an adviser to many aircraft manufacturers. His long lasting friendship with Richard Shuttleworth saw him not only being a trustee of the Shuttleworth Trust but also a pilot for them. He also became a respected technical consultant on many films and he would go on to work on Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, The Blue Max, Mosquito Squadron and Aces High. He would also take on the office of President of the Popular Flying Association in the mid-1960s. Air Commodore Wheeler officially took ownership of WJ370 on 3 February 1959 but had already registered her as G-APRO on 21 January. At that point she had flown for 1179

hours and 15 minutes and her Gipsy Major 7 engine had just under 424 hours. There followed a very thorough rebuild of the aircraft undertaken, not surprisingly, by the Warden Aviation Company at Old Warden, home of the Shuttleworth collection. It was to be well over a year before the Flight Test for the issue of the Certificate of Airworthiness was flown on 11 April 1961. It obviously went well as the next 20 minute flight to test engine rpm included a loop and a roll. Air Commodore Wheeler went on to own G-APRO for the rest of his life and flew around 280 hours in her, a large proportion of that time was commuting between White Waltham – where the aircraft was hangared for many years – and Old Warden. Some of the entries in her log book do show other airfields and, only twice, other pilots. Bovingdon appears on 31 May 1968, around the time at which it was being used as a location for Mosquito Squadron. Another location which crops up in connection to his film work is Booker, which starts to appear in the mid1960s. This was one of the locations used for the filming of Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines. On 6 November 1964, the pilot of G-APRO is shown as Joan Hughes and it was a rare honour for him to allow anyone else to fly his aeroplane. It was in safe hands, though, Joan had been a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary during World War II and

was, at the time, Chief Flying Instructor for the Airways Flying Club. She was also, somewhat unexpectedly, working on Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines as she was the only pilot that Wheeler could find who was small enough and talented enough to coax the replica Santos-Dumont Demoiselle into the air. It was a very faithful replica but Alberto SantosDumont had been an exceptionally small man. The logbooks of G-APRO also show a little of Air Commodore Wheeler’s unusual relationship with the airworthiness authorities. A note, which has caused the new owner more than a little stress, appears in 1965 and says the Gipsy Major 7 engine must be re-assessed by the CAA if the aircraft ever leaves the possession of Air Commodore Wheeler, though clearly it would work admirably while he owned it. He was also forced, in the late 1970s, to fit a full harness but he did get a three-month reprieve when he pointed out that he’d been flying it for 25 years with a lap strap. In fact, he’d been aerobatting for much of that time with only a lap strap. Shortly after this he stopped recording aerobatic manoeuvres in the logbook. During a trip to England for Christmas in 1981, Illinois couple John and Julie Morris saw G-APRO in an open fronted hangar at Old Warden and made enquiries as to whether it might be for sale. John was originally from Hull and wanted to add a British stablemate to their Taylorcraft BC-12D, which was an American cousin of the Auster. Air Commodore Wheeler had been flying less often and was open to offers – but not quite as open as they needed him to be. They returned to Illinois. In 1984, following the death of Air Commodore Wheeler, his widow contacted John Morris who realised that with the favourable changes in both price and exchange rates it might now be possible to import G-APRO to the United States. On 13 May 1984 Mike Clark flew the aeroplane from White Waltham to Walkeridge Farm to be dismantled for the journey across the Atlantic. On the way he flew over Wheeler’s home and waggled the wings in farewell – his widow, Barbara, waved goodbye from the garden. G-APRO was cancelled from the British register on 29 May and left Southampton on the Canada Line container ship Manchester Challenge on 24 June. From there she went by sea to Montreal, by train to Chicago and by truck to The Landings Airport, Huntley, Illinois to be registered in the United States on 25 July 1984. G-APRO was registered as NX370WJ with reference to her former life. John Morris had found a loophole which meant that if he registered his vintage aeroplane with the additional and unusual X after the N then he was not required to show any other placards, specifically the two-inch high EXPERIMENTAL on the door. After more than 25 years with Air Commodore Wheeler it was time for a rebuild when G-APRO got stateside. The couple briefly considered, as Allen Wheeler had, returning her to her camouflage livery but, as John put it, “it’s done its duty and shouldn’t be forced to wear a uniform for the rest of its life.” So the silver and black paint scheme stayed, with G-APRO still displayed on the fuselage. It was 15 months and 1500 hours of work before G-APRO finally took to American skies on 19 October 1985. John has since flown all over the United States, particularly to fly-ins – including Oshkosh where G-APRO won an award in 1986 for Outstanding Limited Production Aircraft in the Classic Division.

AUSTER AOP 6

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION PERFORMANCE Vne 126kt Cruise 95kt Rate of climb 530 ft/min Stall 40kt clean, 35kt with ﬂap Range 278nm Ceiling 14,000ft DIMENSIONS Wing span 36ft Wing area 184sq ft Length 23ft 9in Height 8ft 4.5in Seats 3

Cockpit is very vintage with lovely old gauges, top, rear view mirror, altimeter and, above, a Morris window winder for the ﬂap operation. Prop is ﬁxed pitch.

POWER 145hp Gypsy Major 7 MANUFACTURER Auster Aircraft Ltd Rearsby Aerodrome, Leics NUMBER BUILT About 400 OWNERS’ CLUB International Auster Club www.austerclub.org

WEIGHTS & LOADS Empty 1500lb Useful load 800lb Max take-oﬀ weight 2300lb

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 43

> BUYING SECONDHAND

BUYING A PERMIT AIRCRAFT

It’s an exciting first step to ownership. Doing your research will make sure it continues to be a happy partnership, says Mike Barnard

PERMIT aircraft can be fun to fly and relatively inexpensive to operate, but – and there always is a but – do make sure you understand your responsibilities before taking the plunge. Ask anyone who flies a Permit aircraft what the greatest benefits are and the answer will likely be affordability. With anecdotes of CofA annuals running into thousands of pounds, it is little wonder the demand for second-hand Permit aircraft remains healthy despite the economic downturn. This is good news for Permit aircraft, but with it comes a ‘caution’ sticker: sometimes all is not what it might at first appear. While the UK airworthiness regime ensures that Permit and CofA aircraft are each acceptably safe, it can be easy to make incorrect assumptions of who is responsible for what. This article looks at some of these differences and helps those new to Permit aircraft ownership to better understand their role in keeping their aircraft airworthy. Aircraft built under a Type Certificate are, in general, pretty much identical. They are designed and tested to a recognised standard (eg CS-23) by an Approved Design Organisation and manufactured by an Approved Production Organisation to an approved set of drawings, using materials which are closely specified, batch-traceable and assembled by trained personnel using controlled processes and tooling. This high degree of standardisation provides a known and consistent product; each aircraft is issued with a comprehensive Pilot’s Operating Handbook and is serviced and maintained within a controlled environment using known materials and processes and vocationallyqualified personnel. This regime is essentially the same from the humblest C152 to the largest airliner. It is inherently costly and, despite the outward appearance of vesting significant authority in those who operate within it, each step within the regime is closely controlled and ‘personal’ authorities are very limited.

Non-certified aircraft regimes, including those operated on an LAA Permit to Fly, are each quite different. Indeed, no two aircraft can be truly identical even if they are of the same ‘type,’ as each is built generally by a different builder using different tools and techniques, and having a variable skill level. Differences are further magnified by the ability of these regimes to accept in-build and post-build modifications. While the use of certified aircraft-quality materials is desirable, and required in certain areas of Permit aircraft, it is by no means mandatory. It is this freedom that enables us to, say, fit a superbly efficient and durable automotive alternator instead of a horrendously expensive certified aircraft version. However, it’s equally vital to understand that in operating outside of the ‘certified’ environment, it is beyond the remit of the LAA and its team of Inspectors to be able e to provide ‘absolute’ certification of Permit aircraft. The LAA’s professional relationship with the UK CAA, and the privileges Permit aircraft operators enjoy, recognises this, and time has shown that the resulting LAA Permit regime is both robust and safe. Within the LAA Permit regime, it is the aircraft owner himself who holds principle responsibility for airworthiness. The LAA Inspector will certify that on the day he inspected an aircraft (or inbuild project) he was satisfied that so far as he could reasonably determine the aircraft was fit for flight or the build project was fit to proceed to the next stage. And, while one PA28 will fly pretty much the same as another, differences between Permit aircraft are often reflected in their flying characteristics. Differences in engines, propellers, wing loadings, plus fuel, electrical and instrumentation systems combine to make each Permit aircraft unique and it is important this is fully understood. Statistics published in the US show that purchasers of amateur-built aircraft are more likely to feature in accident reports in the early hours of ownership than those who built them in the first place. Such

DO YOUR HOMEWORK The Engineering section of the LAA website at www.laa.uk.com contains a wealth of information on every aspect of Permit aircraft construction, maintenance, operation and 44 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

modiﬁcation. Click on Engineering, and then on Technical Leaﬂets and see TL 1.05 Secondhand Aircraft and the entire TL2. series on a variety of operational issues.

The owner of an LAA Permit to Fly aircraft such as this Van’s must take the principal responsibility for its airworthiness.

accidents predominantly feature lack of familiarity; for instance, the NTSB report of the 1997 Long-EZ crash which tragically claimed the life of John Denver, cited Denver’s unfamiliarity with the aircraft’s re-located fuel valve. Skills learned in the average flying-club aircraft are not directly transferable to a highperformance RV7 or a single-seat Tipsy Nipper. The LAA Pilot Coaching Scheme specialises in providing transition training; it is an invaluable resource to help pilots transition safely. In contemplating the purchase of a Permit aircraft the buyer should ensure that every aspect of the aircraft records provides an accurate and comprehensive picture of its airworthiness history and shows that at no time has the aircraft been operated in a non-airworthy condition. Keeping proper maintenance records is the owner’s responsibility; any prospective purchaser should check their quality before agreeing to purchase. They should also familiarise themselves with the Sale of Goods Act 1979, in particular section 14 entitled ‘Implied terms about quality or fitness’. Easy to find via Google! In seeking information from the vendor, the purchaser should not rely on any assertions, actual or implied, as to the suitability of the aircraft for his prospective needs. He should rely only on that which can be demonstrated within the aircraft records to satisfy himself on matters concerning present and past airworthiness, and on performance figures

which he has himself researched. He should satisfy himself that he knows exactly what he is buying, to what degree it has been approved for flight and even how much it weighs. Should the purchaser decide to employ the professional services of a third party to evaluate his prospective machine, they will act as his agent. He must not assume that, where that person is also an LAA Inspector, the LAA itself bears responsibility for any outcome. So, having decided on which aircraft is to be purchased, the next important aspect is who will be responsible for the maintenance. Not all aircraft owners are mechanics. Quite often, the skills and time required to afford an aircraft in the first place are not the same as those required to build or maintain one. For that reason many new owners of Permit aircraft elect to have someone else do the maintenance. Ex-owners of a Certified aircraft, who were previously obliged to use the services of an Approved Maintenance Organisation, may well assume that ‘someone else’ will continue to take on this role for their Permit aircraft. However, whether or not that someone else holds a relevant professional or vocational qualification (eg a Licensed Aircraft Engineer), it is the owner himself who bears principal responsibility for the airworthiness of his Permit aircraft. Unless it has four or more seats, the owner is quite entitled to prepare his own maintenance

‘It is the aircraft owner himself who holds principal responsibility for airworthiness’ schedule and is responsible for adhering to it, and for the resulting airworthiness. If an accident were to occur because an owner had elected to deviate from a manufacturer’s service recommendations, he would need to potentially convince a court that his decision was based on a clear technical rationale which still achieved his duty of care to others. LAA Engineering and the nationwide network of LAA Inspectors each play a crucial role in providing technical counselling to Permit aircraft owners, and their advice should be sought and heeded whenever doubt arises. When selling a Permit aircraft, much of the inverse is true. The seller should provide comprehensive documentation for the aircraft and not attempt to sway the buyer. A working knowledge of the Sale of Goods Act is also useful. Having a comprehensively documented modiﬁcation history of the aircraft is also vital; the CAA required the LAA to impose a strict system to ensure that modiﬁcations to Permit aircraft are correctly evaluated and approved

prior to fitment. Indeed, the validity of the aircraft’s Permit to Fly is predicated upon this being the case. Put another way, fitment of non-approved modifications will invalidate the aircraft’s Permit to Fly, and if operated in such a condition, its insurance would be invalid. The result might easily be a CAA prosecution and a costly criminal record for the pilot, and failure to disclose non-approved modifications would not be a wise course of action for a seller. In summary, while Permit aircraft may offer significant operational and financial advantages over Certified aircraft, the prospective owner should familiarise himself with the principal differences between the two airworthiness regimes, in particular the additional responsibilities incumbent on the owner and the reduction in liabilities of third parties associated with the aircraft’s continued airworthiness. He should proceed with a purchase only when he is satisfied that the aircraft will meet his needs and he is willing and competent to take on those additional responsibilities and liabilities. And finally, he is strongly advised to seek competent coaching on his chosen aircraft in order to ensure that he is fully aware of the handling and operational traits of what is a unique aeroplane. Happy hunting!

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 45

46 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

> FLY-IN

SEVEN BARROWS 100 YEARS ON Scores of de Havilland’s fly into Seven Barrows, site of the first successful DH flight, to mark its centenary ON September 10, 1910, Geoffrey de Havilland made the first successful flight of a DH aeroplane from a field at Seven Barrows, just off the A34 south of Newbury. Geoffrey gradually coaxed the machine into the air and, with no experience of

ﬂight, had to learn very quickly on the job. De Havilland went on to become one of the iconic names in British aviation, most notably known in the recreational aviation arena for its military and civil Moth series. The Moth Club decided to mark the centenary of the event in style by organising

a DH fly-in on the same field exactly 100 years to the day, and, despite poor weather hampering many would-be attendees, it was a great success with plenty of beautifully restored DH aircraft flying in. Below is but a small selection of the many interesting DH types that flew in on the day. PHOTOS Nigel Hitchman

Richard Seeley’s Ron Souch-restored DH80A Puss Moth, parked alongside a selection of the many de Havilland aircraft that ﬂew in.

David Cyster has owned Tiger Moth DH82A G-ANRF for 36 years and ﬂew in from Scotland. In 1978, he ﬂew ’RF to Australia.

This Rapide G-AGTM once belonged to the Iraq Petroleum Transport Company and was based at Haifa, Palestine.

G-ADIA is a nice example of a DH82A Tiger Moth, the most numerous of the Moth types due to its role as a primary trainer during WW2.

DHC also got in on the act with a number of Chipmunks attending, including G-BCGC in which Prince Charles learned to ﬂy.

Simon Kidson’s DH60M Moth was built in 1930, won the King’s Cup Air Race and spent many years in New Zealand. OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 47

> ENGINEERING

AUTO-PILOTS: THE PLOT THICKENS More on autopilots and the safety measures built in to them by manufacturers. By Francis Donaldson MY article about auto-pilots in last month’s edition of Light Aviation, written after flight testing a SportCruiser, discussed trim runaways and the increased severity of the aircraft’s response to a simulated pitch trim runaway when the auto-pilot was in action. What happened in the flight testing was that the auto-pilot masked the aircraft’s reaction to a wayward trim servo up to a point. When the out-of-trim force from the deflecting elevator tab exceeded the autopilot servo’s break-out force, the auto-pilot seemed to trip out causing a sudden and violent pitch up or pitch down as the by now well-deflected trim tab took over, jerking the control stick out of the pilot’s hand – with spectacular results. Chuck Busch, President of Trio Avionics, manufacturer of the auto-pilot fitted to the SportCruiser we tested, has been in touch to say that my article was incorrect in implying that these characteristics were inherent in the design of their servos. He has pointed out that their servos have two separate safety mechanisms between the output arm and the gear train. The first is a purely mechanical friction device which is intended to slip easily whenever the pilot needs to overpower the servo in flight (as in the trim runaway case). The second is an electro-mechanical solenoid-operated release mechanism which disengages the servo gears whenever the autopilot is switched off or shuts itself down and mechanically isolates the servo motor and gear train from the control system.

UNLIKELY EVENT In the highly unlikely event of the Trio mechanical clutch jamming in some way, and the pilot not switching off the auto-pilot, by applying greater forces to the control stick the pilot should still be able to overpower the servo either by overcoming the strength of the solenoid-operated release mechanism or, as a last resort, by stripping teeth off the intermediate Delrin gear which, as a further safety measure, is purposely designed to be only just strong enough for a maximum clutch friction setting. The behaviour of Trio’s mechanical slipping clutch in the servo is what determines how the aeroplane responds to a pitch trim

48 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

The auto-pilot under discussion was fitted to this SportCruiser, G-CRUI. runaway with the autopilot switched on. The mechanical clutch consists of a Delrin drum about an inch and a half in diameter, clamped between two metallic discs, the clamping force being provided by four dished Belleville washers and an adjustable clamping nut. Trio assure us that the mechanical slipping clutch is designed in such a way that it does not ‘let go’ suddenly at the point where it slips, as my article implied, but rather slips progressively without any significant drop in torque. Following the LAA article, Trio has apparently tested a similar servo unit taken at random from a recent production batch and confirmed that with the mechanical clutch adjusted to give slipping torques between 5 and 40 inch pounds, the loss in torque at the point of slip was no more than 1 inch pound. This should prevent the kind of characteristics we experienced in our testing, and Trio has agreed to examine the servo from John Massey’s aircraft to try to get to the bottom of just what is causing the problem. Could it be that the slip characteristics change with use, or could some kind of contaminant be altering the characteristics? Has the servo been tampered with at some time and got out of adjustment? We await with interest. We also had an opportunity to examine the internals of the Trio servo the other day, when Trio agent Paul Mitchell kindly brought one of the latest ‘Gold Standard’ units to Turweston. It is certainly a beautifully made piece of kit, and with the cover removed it was helpful to see the mechanical clutch and solenoid in action.

SETTING UP What Trio stress in their correspondence is that it is critical to safety that the clamping nut in the servo is set to give an appropriate clamping force, and hence slipping torque, to suit the characteristics of the aeroplane. We are fully

in agreement with this. Indeed the reason why LAA Engineering chose to carry out an in-depth independent check of John Massey’s SportCruiser auto-pilot installation was that this was the ﬁrst example on the LAA system of such a lightweight, sensitive aircraft being ﬁtted with an auto-pilot, and we were unsure whether the match would be a success.

BETTER GUIDANCE As a result of our testing the SportCruiser, we feel better guidance needs to be provided about the correct setting of the servo slipping torque - ie the clutch slipping nut on the Trio servo, or in the programmed motor current settings of stepper motor type servos. While manufacturer’s installation instructions currently typically advise owners to set the servos up so that they are easily overcome by the pilot and only just strong enough to provide the necessary control inputs, this is open to interpretation. A muscle-bound owner is going to have a different idea of ‘easily overcome’ than someone who scarcely casts a shadow. Given the serious risk of overstressing a lightweight aircraft if the servo is set up to be too powerful, especially in a trim runaway scenario, we are now in discussion over criteria for setting up the servos which will hopefully eliminate this possibility. As a ﬁrst shot, for a lightweight aircraft like the SportCruiser we suggest the ‘slip’ should be set up so that it occurs with no more than two pounds stick force. With the servo installed and activated, this can be measured directly at the stick grip using a typical ﬁsherman’s springbalance. If the elevator or stabilator is not mass balanced, it can be temporarily disconnected from the elevator pushrod during the setting up of the servo, so that the static imbalance doesn’t confuse the results. Don’t forget your duplicate checks after it is re-connected!

RISK MANAGEMENT In the world of type-certificated transport aircraft, equipment such as auto-pilots and instrumentation all have to be certified in detail against complex design codes. Underpinning the requirements are safety levels that are judged appropriate to the type of operation. For example historically, for such aircraft, serious accidents due to operational and airframe-related causes take place roughly once in every million hours of flight. Of these, about ten per cent are typically due to systems-related problems. On this basis, one certification criteria for a newly developed aircraft or modification could be to ensure the serious accident rate from systems-related problems should not be allowed to exceed this historical accident rate. In other words the probability of a critical systems failure should be no more than 10-7 per flight hour. The difficulty with this is that it relates to the failure of any of the critical systems on the aeroplane, not just a single system such as an auto-pilot. One school of thought was to assume arbitrarily that a typical complex aeroplane has a hundred systems on board which could bring the aircraft down if they failed, therefore to achieve the overall ‘one in ten million flight hours’ systems-related accidents, each individual system should be proven to have a failure rate per flying hour of 10-9, ie, a mean time between critical failures of a billion flying hours. This probability level is termed ‘extremely improbable’ in large aircraft circles. For a manufacturer of an auto-pilot, vacuum pump or artificial horizon to prove on paper (or through testing) that his product would meet these reliability criteria is extremely difficult, and imposes a huge and enormously expensive hurdle to any new equipment being certified. I can well imagine Trio or Tru-Track’s response if LAA were to ask them to provide such proof to let their products be used in the UK! Whilst with amateur-built aircraft we are not tied to the same requirements as large transport aircraft, we still need to check equipment is fit for purpose. Fortunately, the so-called ‘fail-safe’ criteria can usually be used instead, which again stems from the world of certified aircraft. The fail-safe approach to systems design is to assume system failures will occur, but that the result of the failure must be non-catastrophic.

INSIDE THE TRIO AVIONICS’ AUTO-PILOT The latest ‘Gold Standard’ unit examined at Turweston TRIO AVIONICS says: When Trio introduced the altitude hold systems, we did so only when we felt that we had designed a “safety-conscious” servo that we were comfortable connecting to an aircraft elevator system. (It is used for both aileron and elevator systems). The Gold Standard servo has inherent “intelligence” capability acquired by the two internal microprocessors that govern its operation. It has full authority to disconnect itself from the controls if it senses anything that deviates from normal operational conditions. It watches motor driver currents and temperatures (both servo and auto-trim) as well as short circuits. It monitors crank arm positions and will disconnect (and alert the pilot) in abnormal circumstances - ie, extreme elevator/ aileron positions. It obeys the “G” force limitations dictated by the A/H control electronics and it will disconnect itself if it detects a communications error.

DOUBLE FAILURES In the certiﬁed world, double failures (ie, two unrelated failures during the same ﬂight) must also be considered, unless the probability of a double failure is extremely improbable. This kind of demonstration is usually presented in the form of a failure modes analysis which lists all the things that might go wrong with a system and sets out the likely consequences of each one both singly and in pairs, to show, hopefully, that the total risk of the unit bringing the aircraft down remains within the ‘extremely improbable’ level. It’s interesting that the complexity of the requirements regarding reliability of systems varies with the size of aircraft. CS-25, the requirements for large transport aircraft, includes 28 pages of details and guidance on the subject, whereas CS-23, the code for light aircraft has just two pages about it (paragraph 1309). The equivalent paragraph in CS-VLA, for very light aircraft, restricts itself to a single sentence: ‘The equipment, systems and installations must be designed to minimise

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 49

> ENGINEERING ‘It will not cause an accident by ensuring it is easily overwhelmed hazards to the aeroplane in the event of a probable malfunction or failure’. In the case of a non-certified auto-pilot installation in a homebuilt, the LAA’s approach to the jamming risk has been to check the system will not cause a catastrophic accident by ensuring it is easily overpowered by the pilot, cannot jam the controls through mechanical over-centring, and has a secondary feature, to allow the pilot to overpower the servo in the event of a failure of the primary clutch. A tertiary provision, to allow the pilot to overpower it even if the back-up feature fails to work, is a bonus. By providing at least two levels of jamming protection from independent devices within the servo we assume the risk of a single or double failure is catered for and will still not have catastrophic consequences, and saves us the nausea of assessing actual reliability predictions against somewhat arbitrary ‘once per so many flying hours’ targets. Of course, sceptics can argue the auto-pilot servo output drive shaft might seize in its bearings. On the other hand there are many bearings in any flying control system which if they jammed would make the controls seize up - the addition of one more, conventionally designed bearing to the system is considered a negligible additional risk. You have to stop somewhere.

AUTO-PILOT RUNAWAYS In my article last month I remarked while we’ve heard of several cases of electric trims running away in flight, we don’t seem to get reports of auto-pilot servos running away. Trio have explained to us that in their systems, they have gone to great lengths to prevent glitches in the electronics causing un-commanded servo movements by including several different forms of safety devices in the circuitry itself. These include a self-checking routine in the main processor which assesses the integrity of the data coming to and coming from the servo every 10 milliseconds and shuts the system down if it senses that all is not well. The output stage which controls the servo motor includes a further protective device which senses anything untoward (eg, a shorted or open motor winding, or excessive current) and would prevent the servo going ‘hard over’ in the event of any of these types of failure. A further supervisory processor interrogates the main processor a hundred times a second and isolates the servo motor instantly if it doesn’t receive sensible feedback to a stream of digital check messages. Any excessive angle on the servo arm also cuts the power to the servo. And in case all that should fail, further protection is given by a built-in g-meter which senses if the aircraft experiences more than +2g or less than 0g, when it flashes a warning message on the panel and then cuts the power to the servo, releasing the solenoid and isolating the servo from the flying controls. Provisions are incorporated whereby it will ignore the effects of normal turbulence. Any failure condition is indicated to the pilot by an appropriate error message flashing up on the LCD switch on the instrument panel.

50 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

SAFETY TRIM BOX AND WIRING HARNESS Electronic servo controller The Ray Allen trim servo has become almost ubiquitous as the servo of choice for any aircraft project that requires electric trim. It is light and reasonably powerful, but there are some limitations - principally the servos run at only one speed and can have only one operating switch attached. Of course there are several ways to circumvent these problems, but most involve spending hours soldering many components together. There is now a much easier solution – Safety-Trim. Safety-Trim is an electronic servo controller with speed control and runaway protection. Time limited operation of the servo motor prevents trim runaways by limiting servo travel to three seconds per trim switch actuation. A reverse function switch allows the pilot to recover from a stuck or failed trim switch. Large trim corrections are possible by immediately re-keying the trim switch. For faster aeroplanes, two trim motor speeds are available to enable accurate trimming in the circuit and at cruise speed. Trim systems are often arranged to allow trimming in the circuit with only a few seconds of motor run. When cruising at high speed this can cause the trim to be very sensitive and make accurate trimming diﬃcult, meaning that a slower rate of trimming is very desirable. Adding a large resistor in the motor power line can slow it down, but also will reduce the motor power, perhaps to a point where the trim tab cannot be moved.

Top: The Safety-Trim control box. Above: Optional wiring harness with on/oﬀ/reverse switch.. Safety-Trim uses an electronic circuit to slow the motor speed without reducing the power. The two trim motor speeds are user adjustable as is the airspeed where the switchover happens, which can be triggered by ﬂap position or airspeed (with the optional airspeed switch). Multiple trim switches can be installed easily, for example one for each seat in tandem aircraft, allowing many other components to be eliminated, no extra relay decks or speed controllers are needed. The wiring is

Altogether, a very impressive package which shows how seriously manufacturers have taken responsibility for the safety of their product.

ELECTRIC TRIMS In contrast, the typical trim servo with its simple geared motor and rocker switch, relay and row of LEDs comes out of the Ark. Perhaps the fact that runaways seems to happen quite often with electric trim servos but not on auto-pilots shows how effective have been the safety systems that Trio and other auto-pilot manufacturers have put in place. As mentioned in last month’s article, one company ‘TCW Systems’ has stepped up to the mark in producing a more intelligent trim

very simple (especially with purpose built wiring harness) with no extra parts required. Safety-Trim is designed for standard electric trim servos, such as the Ray Allen T2 & T3 series and is short circuit proof and reverse polarity protected. 1 axis or 2 axis models available with either 1 or 2 speeds. Prices range from £180 to £330 with wiring harnesses from £62 to £81 and airspeed switches at £47. Available from Gloster Air Parts, 01252 617484 or sales@ glosterairparts.co.uk.

system, and further details of this are shown in the sidebar. This unit has a safety feature which stops the servo running after it senses that it has run for three seconds or more, which guards against a trim runaway due to, for example, a short circuit at the trim selector switch or its wiring, or a trim switch which is mechanically stuck ‘on’. The Safety-Trim obviously doesn’t have the more complex selfchecking features the Trio have put in place, but is nevertheless a step in the right direction. In closing for this month, I’d like to thank Chuck Busch of Trio Avionics, LAA’er Paul Mitchell and John Massey for their support in working through this very interesting and critical ﬂight safety issue.

> LAA COURSES

LAA ET COURSES 2010/11 Gain a valuable insight into aircraft maintenance and construction

AS autumn draws in, the LAA Educational Trust Skills Courses are due to start, many centred on the new ET Portakabin on the main apron in Turweston’s cafe/tower cabin complex or around the country. AIRCRAFT ELECTRICS AND AVIONICS TURWESTON. PRICE £85 We not only start the third season of courses with the greatly improved workshop facility, but also with some high quality avionics equipment very generously donated by Garmin: • Twin screen • G3X EFIS System • GNS 430W GPS, Nav, Com • GMA 240 Audio Panel • GTX 328 Mode S Transponder • SL30 Nav, Com A demonstration panel has been built to support both the Electrics and Avionics courses. The panel has been designed to practically demonstrate not only a range of modern avionics, but how they should be wired up and interconnected. In addition to the fantastic loan of a range of typical Permit aircraft avionics from Garmin, the panel also demonstrates modern power management and distribution systems with the kind loan from Vertical Power of its VP50 system. Behind the avionics section of the panel is a mock ﬁrewall that shows how a typical Permit aircraft’s battery, contactors, alternator and earthing system may be interconnected. There is also a slightly smaller avionics demonstration panel with equipment kindly loaned by Dynon. Airbox has also been generous in loaning us an Aware, a Clarity and a Foresight unit. And Kannad has kindly loaned demonstration units of its popular ELT and PLB ranges. This support will signiﬁcantly enhance the value of these very popular courses.

WHAT’S ON OFFER

Please check website for additional dates

OCTOBER 2010 • Aluminium - Sunday 31 NOVEMBER 2010 • Rotax 912 - Saturday 13 • Woodwork - Wednesday 17 • Avionics - Saturday 20 • Aluminium - Saturday 20/Sunday 21 • Jabiru - Saturday 27 • Weight & Balance - Saturday 27 DECEMBER 2010 • Propellers - Saturday 4 • Electrical - Saturday 11 • Woodwork - Wednesday 15 JANUARY 2011 • Avionics - Saturday 8 • Woodwork - Wednesday 12 • Jabiru - Saturday 15 TBC • Rotax 912 - Saturday 22 FEBRUARY 2011 • Woodwork - Wednesday 16 • Electrical - Saturday 19 • Jabiru - Saturday 19 TBC MARCH 2011 • Woodwork - Wednesday 16 • Avionics - Saturday 19th

If you’re interested in any of the courses, contact the office for more details on 01280 846786. WEIGHT AND BALANCE WATCHFORD FARM, DEVON. PRICE £85 A new subject this year is Weight and Balance. The initial course will take place at Watchford Farm near Taunton. LAA Inspector Trevor Reed will take you through a hands-on weighing of an aircraft and plumbline location of moments before working up a Weight and Balance schedule for the aircraft. Only one course is on the books, but if there is sufficient demand we can arrange further courses. ROTAX ENGINES TURWESTON. PRICE £105 We have a new instructor for our Rotax 912 engine courses, which will now take place at Turweston. Kevin Dilks, a Rotax mechanic for many years who went on to work for Rotax to prepare courses for the dealer network, has now settled back in the UK and runs his own Rotax service company, Special Aviation Services. He is an FAA Airframe and Engine mechanic and an LAA Inspector. Kevin’s course takes the new Rotax 912 owner through engine installation and pilot maintenance and servicing issues to ensure optimum performance and reliability. PROPELLERS TURWESTON. PRICE £90 Kevin Dilks (see above) is also the new UK agent for Woodcomp propellers and will host a course at Turweston on the care and maintenance of ground-adjustable and inflight-adjustable propellers. The propeller is a vital part of your aircraft, but all too often it receives minimal attention. The course will include a full explanation and demonstration of how to correctly set pitch angles on a ground adjustable, plus what signs to look for to avert potential future problems with your prop. JABIRU ENGINES SOUTHERY, NORFOK. PRICE £95 Acknowledged Jabiru aficionado Roger Lewis will once again be hosting courses. As with the Rotax courses, the main thrust is pilot

maintenance and operation to ensure engines are kept in optimum operating condition. AIRCRAFT WOODWORK SWINDON, WILTS. PRICE £95 (inc lunch) Dudley Pattison hosts his popular aircraft woodwork courses from his home workshop. An ideal course for anybody contemplating building or repairing a wooden aircraft, the course covers wood selection, cutting, drilling, scarfing, gluing etc – all you need to gain sufficient confidence to start your own project. WORKING IN ALUMINIUM TURWESTON. PRICE £115 Gary Smith, John Michie and Norman Haines, all of whom have built examples of Van’s aircraft, will guide you through the construction of a Van’s toolbox. The build process is specifically designed to teach drilling, de-burring, dimpling and riveting by various methods, and by the end of the day you will have a useful ‘apprentice piece’ to take home with you. WELDING LEOMINSTER. PRICE £235 A range of one-to-one welding courses are available, gas, MIG and TIG, from beginner to advanced. Contact Penny at the office for details. FUTURE COURSES There are a number of courses currently being arranged and details will appear in future issues of the magazine and on the LAA website. It is hoped to run some more of the very popular English Wheeling courses, plus a more advanced course although our instructor, Justin Baker, is currently incapacitated. Get well soon Justin. Some Pilot Maintenance courses are also on the cards, plus one or two other ideas are awaiting the time to develop further. We are always happy to listen to members’ ideas for courses, particularly if you or somebody you know has the skills to hold a course. Please email me at bfjjodel@talktalk.net with your suggestions.

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 51

SAFETYSPOT

SPREADING THE WORD Learning the lessons of others’ misfortunes I HAVE just had a fascinating weekend being re-educated about the historical complexities and various ways of looking at the Battle of Britain. “There’s a Hun in the Sun,” as Ken Craigie, the LAA Chief Inspector, would (and actually just did) say. Not being particularly impressed by the TV of late, I was pleasantly surprised by the coverage given by the Beeb. During one discussion dissecting the various events of 1940-41 a clip was shown of the late Group

Captain Sir Douglas Bader being interviewed on ‘Late Night Line Up’ by a very fresh faced Denis Touchy in 1965. It brought back personal memories. I remember being in awe of the great man around White Waltham as a boy in the late 1960s when he was ﬂying a Beagle 206 for Shell. ‘Reach for the Sky’ held the rank of my favourite ﬁlm for years, only recently being displaced by ‘The Matrix’... I know, weird! Anyway, he was asked by Denis about what it was like to be a hero. Douglas replied that, “it was

jolly nice of people to want my autograph”. In an age of celebrity worship it was good to see a real hero on the box for a change. As I have explained over the years we use Safety Spot to ‘close down’ some of the investigations into events and occurrences encountered by LAA members. The more people who know about a problem, the less chance there is that this problem will surface unexpectedly in the future, perhaps with disastrous results. Sometimes, as in this ﬁrst tale involving the crash of a CASA

Jungmann in the spring of last year, we are asked to ‘spread the word’ by the authorities. Sadly, in this case, it was the Coroner who asked, at the inquest, how we promulgated the lessons learnt during this AAIB investigation. It was explained that we are able to share safety information with a much wider audience in our monthly safety feature, Safety Spot. In addition to this we will be sending a copy of the accident report, written by the AAIB, to all our Jungmann owners.

CASA 1-131E Series 1000 Jungmann - engine failure LET’S start this by explaining that if there’s a crash following an engine failure on an aircraft there are diﬀerent views around about what deﬁnitively caused the crash. Some would argue the engine stopping would be to blame, others would make a good case that the pilot’s failure to land the aircraft safely should ultimately be listed as the cause. Both sides of this argument, like most I suppose, have merit. My views about accidents are well known, at least amongst the regular readers of Safety Spot; there is never just one cause for an accident. In this necessarily very brief discussion I shall work backwards through the events of the day and look at some of what was uncovered by investigators subsequently.

The aircraft, a Spanish built Jungmann fitted with an ENMA Tigre engine, crashed during a forced landing into a field, the forced landing was required because the engine stopped, “running down smoothly and stopping” to be more precise, at a height probably around 1000ft. According to the passenger, the pilot, who had owned the aircraft for more than 20 years, turned right towards a “big green lush field” and appeared very calm and in complete control during the event. The passenger recalls that “as they neared the ground she saw a set of telegraph cables and realised that they would not clear them”. The aircraft’s wheels and exhaust struck the cables, causing it to decelerate rapidly and pitch nose PHOTO AAIB

Just by looking at this housing it is not possible to see the wear that has inevitably accrued of the decades since it was manufactured. Manufacturing techniques employed half a century ago were very diﬀerent to those available today and, consequently, this pump looks pretty simple to service. Don’t be fooled, checking components like this often requires specialist knowledge and tooling; bench testing, a deﬁnite ‘must do’, invariably requires the use of a purpose built test rig. 52 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

down. The aircraft impacted nose first and then pitched over inverted. I spoke to the AAIB investigator - he’s a pilot himself. He said that in his view they were very unlucky to hit these wires. Running close to the hedge, as they were, they would have been very difficult to see under normal conditions, let alone in an emergency landing situation. To continue our discussion backwards in time, we have to look at what caused the engine stoppage? I can tell you straight away that, despite a thorough investigation by the staff at Farnborough, no specific cause for the engine stoppage was found. The amount of fuel actually in the fuel tanks after the accident was negligible; something like three-quarters of a litre was actually recovered from the tank. But an aircraft that has turned upside down is most likely to lose any fuel that would have been in the tanks pretty quickly especially as the glass fuel gauge, situated on the top of the tank, had broken. It is probable fuel had leaked from the tank into the surrounding area but, and it important to note all the evidence available, there were no signs of fuel leakage. Investigators actually went back to the scene in the weeks following the incident to see whether there were any changes to local vegetation there were none visible. Could the aircraft simply have run out of fuel? It is possible, based on the fact there was no post incident evidence of fuel leakage. Also, the engine did not stop due to a catastrophic failure, this was attested both by the witness and by subsequent engineering examination. Certainly, engines do “run down smoothly” when starved of fuel. The AAIB established during witness interviews during the investigation that the fuel drain had been seen leaking earlier in the day but this had been fixed before the day’s flying had begun, but a later in-flight leak cannot be ruled out. There is some evidence against the “running

With Malcolm McBride Airworthiness Engineer PHOTO AAIB

Here’s a picture of one of the pistons from the ENMA Tigre engine that stopped mid flight which lead to the unsuccessful field landing described in the text. The Tigre IVA is nominally rated at 125 HP and is similar in layout to the Gipsy Major engine. Inverted engines like this employ clever design features that prevent oil from the crankcase entering the business end of the cylinders, note the lower oil control ring. Low compressions caused by stuck rings on this type of engine is bad news. Not only will there be the usual difficulties in starting, and an inevitable power loss, but the engine will have the added problem of oiling up the sparking plugs; and this can happen, in some circumstances, during a flight.

out of fuel” theory. The passenger, not a regular flyer, reported she saw the indicator ball in the float type fuel gauge “bouncing up and down” just before the engine stoppage. One presumes that there must have been fuel in the gauge at least for this to have been seen. Another compelling reason, and why I personally don’t think that this is the cause, is that the aircraft was refuelled just before the previous flight and there are bowser records for this. More importantly in my view, the pilot was well used to the aircraft and was known to be extremely fastidious and careful, it is most likely this pilot would have known exactly how much fuel he had... and it would have been enough for the sortie. The aircraft was recovered from the scene and taken to Farnborough for examination, the engine was removed and fitted to a test rig. Before I look more closely at what was found during this examination I would like to whizz back in time to the events that started the day. The object of the day’s flying was to give a bunch of friends an air experience flight. The pilot planned to give six flights in all and was assisted during the pre-flight preparations by a friend, who is also a pilot. At the end of the six flights the pilot was planning to have a flight with his regular flying partner. At the beginning of the day, a pre-flight inspection was carried out in the hangar and the fuel tank topped off with about four and a half litres of fuel. The pilot and his assistant pulled the aircraft out of the hangar and attempted to handstart the aircraft. To quote the AAIB report, “this proved difficult”. This may be a slight understatement as it took the pair of them over 40 minutes to start the engine. Could there be

‘Cylinder compressions were checked and found to be low on cylinders 1, 2 and 3’ a lesson here somewhere? If there hadn’t been half a dozen expectant passengers waiting, would the pilot have called it a day after a sensible period of hand-swinging and call in some engineering expertise? We will never know the answer to that, of course. Before the engine was stripped for a detailed inspection it was placed on a test bed and the original propeller, which was undamaged in the accident, fitted. The engine proved very difficult to start and, once started, would only be kept running by pumping the throttle and operating the electrical fuel pump (which is part of the test rig). The engine fuel pump was then bypassed and fuel was supplied to the engine using the rig’s electrical pump only. The engine ran normally and, during this run the magnetos and fuel consumption were checked, these were both normal. When full throttle was applied however, oil started to leak from the oil filter housing and smoke emanated from the oil breather. This latter problem is often associated with a pressurising crankcase, commonly due to inoperative or seized piston rings. The cylinder compressions were checked and were found to be low on cylinders 1, 3, and 4 and there was no, or at least almost no, compression on cylinder number 2. Further checks did not find any other faults except that the engine was “very oily” in the barrels. The

engine had accumulated 2,754 hours since new (1952) and 436 hours since overhaul (in 1984, by the Spanish Air Force). A point noted in the AAIB report was that in Spain the recommended TBO for this engine is 450 hours but, when operated by the military, engine overhauls were carried out in the region of 200 to 300 hours. This engine was therefore within its TBO using one measure, but well outside using another. This is often the problem when assessing the airworthiness of vintage or veteran aircraft... which rule do you follow? To return to the engine inspection. It will be noted by the reader that we have two separate problems here, the first being an unserviceable fuel pump and the second, a general low compression. During the engine strip inspection the fuel pump was removed from the engine. The pump’s drive was intact and the pump rotated freely. When the pump was tested it was only able to produce 1.5 psi at full rpm, the book figure for this pump is 4.26 psi. Before I expend a little ink discussing these findings and, bearing in mind my earlier comments about causes and responsibilities, I will write here the AAIB’s conclusion: “The accident was caused by the aircraft striking telegraph cables during an attempted forced landing following an engine failure. No single cause could be determined for the engine stopping. The hazards of unplanned off field landings are considerable, however, wire strikes during forced landings are fortunately very rare occurrences and therefore no Safety Recommendations are considered appropriate.” Personally, I’ve never had a Tigre engine to pieces, so I gave LAA’er Mike Vaisey of Vintech, the vintage engine specialists based at ➽ OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 53

SAFETYSPOT Little Gransden, a call to see what thoughts he had about this failure. He agreed that, failing an obvious single cause for the engine failure, we will probably never know why the engine stopped as it did. I did though, get a great ‘primer’ about the engine type and the problems they see with the engine. I noted with interest that the AAIB included the ubiquitous Carb Icing Prediction Chart implying, if not actually stating, that ice may have been a factor. Perhaps, as I have previously said, this accident was the focal point for a number of separate factors that, individually, may have passed unnoticed. During my discussions with the investigators at the AAIB it was interesting to hear the viewpoint that, had this accident not been a fatality, the engine failure would probably not have been investigated by them. We’ve started to look into all the reported engine failures suﬀered by LAA aircraft which is improving the resolution of the overall picture. Herein lies the problem associated with every accident/ incident/event statistic published: the quality of the result can only ever be as good as the quality (and in this case quantity) of the data. I also spoke to Mike’s colleague at Vintech, another LAA’er of course, Paul Sharman. Paul has had a lot of experience with these vane type fuel pumps and explained that the problem of low pressure output can normally be traced to wear in the shaft’s bushes and not the vanes themselves. This is because the vanes are normally well lubricated with fuel and the bronze bushings are less well served. The pump, as you can see from the photo, is a fairly complicated device in its own right and requires specialist tools (and knowledge) to take apart. The fact that this pump produced a low pressure on the subsequent engine test, and the extent of the wear in the pump itself, points to the fact that this pump had been operating below par for some time. It’s easy to overlook a low pressure reading in the cockpit, especially if the engine is running ﬁne. If it ain’t broke, why touch it?

LESSONS TO LEARN? 1. If an engine’s starting behaviour changes don’t ignore it. 2. If you are going to take a few friends flying then make the most of the occasion, maybe it would be better to fly them on separate days. Spend some time really showing them what’s it’s like owning and operating an LAA aircraft, and perhaps finish the day with a pub lunch. Promising a large group of people a flight, even for the best of reasons, simply piles on the pressure. 3. If you see fuel, or anything else for that matter, leaking from an aircraft over an extended period of time

there’s probably something wrong, don’t ignore it. 4. Never become over-familiar with an aircraft’s foibles, this may lead to complacency with regard to a ‘particular behaviour’. “Oh, it always bangs and coughs every few minutes, well, it’s forty years old, don’t you know?” is not a professional approach to managing an aircraft. If the engine manual says the limits for something or other are X then don’t ﬂy the aircraft unless the indications given are within these limits. If you don’t trust the gauge, then replace it, or get it ﬁxed. 5. Finally, looking after old things, especially engineered

The subject of engine overhaul is a complicated one naturally. The LAA uses the phrase ‘On Condition’ regularly when defining whether an engine is fit, or not fit, for service. ‘On Condition’ implies that as long as the condition of the engine appears ok then it is ok. This is only partially true. Actually, the definition is rather more specific in that an engine is considered fit for service if it complies with the requirement of GR 24, more especially, Appendix 3 of GR 24. This Generic Requirement superseded the UK’s Airworthiness Notice Number 35. GR 24 allows for the continued use of some aero engines after their published overhaul period subject to demonstrating the engine is in every respect fit for service. This requires that the engine, and its associated components, all function adequately and that the engine has good compressions on all cylinders. Oil consumption is also a factor as is corrosion,

old things, is both a privilege and a responsibility. If you are like me, and get a tightening in the chest when you see a beautifully restored engine fire into life, then you will understand my concerns when I see people operating with a ‘reduced’ maintenance requirement on their engines because the aircraft is ‘now operating on a Permit’. Pilots wouldn’t have flown an aircraft 40 years ago with a suspect engine regardless of who certified the machine. We mustn’t even think of doing so now just because, perhaps more especially because, it might be getting a bit ‘long in the tooth’.

PHOTO AAIB

especially internal corrosion for reasons we have many times discussed. It’s a very sad day when somebody gets killed in an aircraft accident; this sadness can only be multiplied when nothing is learnt from it. This particular incident has many of the features I see in day to day reports as they cross my desk. Individually, these reports become ‘only so much paper’; I try hard to let you know about them, as you know. Just occasionally, there will be a supernatural conspiracy which will end in a few of the events, normally just destined to a report, causing an accident. Pete Harvey, the LAA Chief Executive likes to use the Swiss cheese analogy, I expect you’ve heard it. “If there are enough holes in a block of cheese every now and then they will line up.” I list above a few of the lessons, as I see them. I expect you will have a few ideas of your own about how this particular incident could have been avoided. I am not suggesting that any of my thoughts are directly associated with the loss of the Jungmann, the conclusions of the AAIB report speaks for itself, and I don’t own a crystal ball... they’re lessons nonetheless. PHOTO AAIB

You can see here how complicated this disassembled vane type fuel pump is. Vane pumps work by transferring the energy from the vane into the fuel, pressurising it. The method of operation is rather like a backwards water wheel, perhaps a paddle steamer would be a better analogy. Output pressure is regulated by an adjustable spring type relief valve. For these pumps to operate well they need to be in good condition. 54 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

In this picture the shaft and bearing can clearly be seen. Normally the problem of a low output from a pump can be traced to wear or leakage due to wear. In the case of a ‘vane type’ pump the wear is not generally found where you would expect it, at the vane/cylinder interface. This is normally very well lubricated by the fuel, the problem, as in this case, is wear in the bearing which caused the vanes to run ‘skew’ in the cylinder. Turbulent ﬂow is the result reducing pressure output.

With Malcolm McBride Airworthiness Engineer

Pulsar XP - fuel pump leak PHOTO Conrad Beal

Later Rotax engines use an AC fuel pump but the ‘workings’ are essentially the same as the Pierburg featured in the text. This pump operates using the principle of positive displacement. A cam, on the gearbox output shaft forces a transfer shaft up through the body of the pump to the diaphragm which moves reducing the volume in the cylinder. A spring keeps the shaft pressed against the cam. There are two non return valves fitted, an inlet and an outlet. This sort of pump has proved very reliable but a leak in the diaphragm will stop it working completely as will the failure (perhaps through debris) of either valve. Wear in the cam/or shaft will reduce output and therefore delivery pressure. It’s always a good idea to have a fuel pressure gauge, they are cheap and easy to install. Dave went on. “You haven’t heard about the fuel pump then?” Actually I had as, just a few minutes earlier, a chap popped over to the engineering stand with a great big grin on his face exclaiming that he had found a problem with the GASCo Pulsar that hadn’t been introduced, in other words ‘A REAL ONE’! The enthusiastic chap, almost needless to say, was the Rotax aficionado, Conrad Beale. Well done to Conrad for spotting this fault which would have probably led to an in-flight event on David’s flight home, perhaps an out field landing or a fire. The pictures tell their own story here so I won’t go on about it except to say that it is often the case that the softer material will wear out the harder one. Here, the soft fibreglass wore straight through the steel casing of the fuel pump. I also ought to point out that Conrad was really

reluctant to let me use the photo of the cutaway fuel pump because, as he rightly points out, it’s full of corrosion. Conrad pointed out that this is just a demonstration pump that lives in his garage, hence the corrosion. I promised to remove the traces of corrosion using Photoshop but, as the result of this photo editing looked like an attempt at a drawing of a cat by a three year old, I decided to discount the picture and enrol on a night school course in photo editing! Fair winds. PHOTO Malcolm McBride

ACTUALLY the title of this necessarily brief section of Safety Spot is a little misleading as the leak was never really witnessed, the hole was spotted first. Let me explain. Our story begins at the LAA Rally a couple of weeks ago at Sywell. What a great event it was, reminiscent of days gone by and well done to everybody for making it a really safe event. Just as an aside, I never got further than about 10 metres from the engineering stand, but it was great to spend the day chatting to you all about various airworthiness issues. I learnt a lot, thanks for spending time letting me know about your airworthiness concerns. Back to the hole. If you were lucky enough to attend the Rally you may recall the Pulsar that was used as a ‘spot the problem’ aircraft on the GASCo display. Well, I introduced myself to the aircraft’s owner, Dave Stansfield, and had a bit of a chat about the various issues; you can imagine the sort of thing. “What’s the response like”? “Brilliant”! “Do people find all the ‘built in’ issues? “Er, yes... well, yes and no”. I asked Dave what he meant and he explained that the one built-in thing that everybody, or at least, nearly everybody missed was a pair of pliers lying on the floor by the central console. I took a quick picture and thought that it would be useful to remind Safety Spot readers about the dangers of leaving tools about! It should be noted here that this sort of quiz is good fun, and it’s always good to test oneself. The important lesson (especially if you miss something) is that you know there are problems and are looking hard to find them. It’s a bit like the ‘where’s Wally’ pictures I used to show my kids when they were younger. You knew there was a ‘Wally’ but just where? The real problem with daily inspections, and we have alluded to this elsewhere in this Spot, is complacency. I don’t need to look at this very closely because I know that it’s ok, “it’s my blooming aircraft after all!” Human factors being what they are you’re not likely to look too hard if you’re not expecting to find a problem. Especially, and here’s the rub, when the last thing you want to find is a problem. Anyway, back to the Pulsar.

PHOTO Malcolm McBride

Here’s a close up showing in ng where wher wh erre the ere th he cowling cco owli wlin wl ing was rubbing against the fuel pump. Often a soft material will wear straight through a hard material. This goes against the grain somehow. In this case of course the glass ﬁlaments in the glass ﬁbre mat acted as a perfect abrasive. PHOTO Malcolm McBride

Where’s Wally? Can you see the oﬀending tool? Most people didn’t see it at the GASCo ﬁnd a fault competition held during the Rally at Sywell.

You can see the exposed diaphragm clearly in this picture. The pierced chamber is on the pressure side of the pump. OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 55

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DE HAVILLAND TIGER MOTH (1931-45)

S SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE ((1936 ONWARDS)

The de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane is an iconic and instantly recognisable aircraft. It is also one of a handful of planes that attracts the widest possible recognition outside the specialist group. Of nearly 10,000 built, it is thought more than 1,000 Tiger Moths still survive over six decades on, and over half remain airworthy.The authors take a close look at the construction of the Moth, acquiring and restoring an example, owning and flying one, and the engineer’s view of keeping it running and airworthy.160 pp, hardback, plus plans, diagrams etc. PRICE £17.00

T legendary Supermarine The SSpitfire receives the famous H Haynes treatment with the full cco-operation and authorisation of tthe RAF. Here is a unique insight iinto what it takes to own, restore aand operate a Spitfire, as well as pproviding a detailed look at the eengineering and construction of tthis remarkable aeroplane. The m manual is based on the restoration oof the Spitfire Mk XVI at RAF C Coningsby.160 pp, hardback, in ccolour, plus plans, diagrams etc. PRICE £19.00 P

OTHER HAYNES MANUALS OF INTEREST: MESSERSCHMIDT Bf109, AVRO VULCAN 1952 ON, AVRO LANCASTER 1941 ON. £18 EACH

TIPS & TRICKS FOR AIRCRAFT HOMEBUILDERS by Sonja Englert Many homebuilders are eager to share what they have learned with other builders rs and help them avoid mistakes. This book is a collection of the experiences of many builders. No matter what type of airplane you are building or what materials it is made from, there are a lot of useful tips on these pages. They cover everything setting up a shop, tools and jigs, assembling the structure, systems installation, customizations, finishing and flight testing, with many step-by-step instructions. With this book, you can benefit from the experiments and years of accumulated knowledge of others. Illustrated with more than 250 pictures, everything is well explained and easy to understand. PRICE £22.00

STRUCTURES by J Gordon For those who find difficulty in communicating with engineers, Professor Gordon is a godsend. His ‘The New Science of Strong Materials’ made plain the secrets of materials science, and now with this volume he explains the importance and properties of different structures in a way, which will appeal to everyone. Engineers will of course understand why the Greeks took the wheels off their chariots at night, why we get lumbago, why birds have feathers and how much science is involved in dressmaking as well as the strength of bridges, boats and aeroplanes. Professor Gordon explains all these things, showing how the need to be strong and to support various loads has influenced the development of all sorts of creatures and devices - including man. LLively and informative, th this book describes th structural element the in nature, technology a everyday life from and m modern viewpoints. 3 395pp, illustrated. PRICE £11.00

THE NEW SCIENCE OF STRONG MATERIALS by J Gordon Why isn’t wood weaker that it is? Why isn’t steel stronger? Why does glass sometimes shatter and sometimes bend like spring? Why do ships break in half? All these are questions about the nature of materials. All of them are vital to engineers but also fascinating as scientific problems. During the 250 years up to the 1930s they had been answered largely by seeing how materials behaved in practice. But materials continued to do things that they “ought” not to have done. Only in the last 40 years have these questions begun to be answered by a new approach. Material scientists have started to look more deeply into the make-up of materials. They have found many surprises; above all, perhaps, that how a material behaves depends on how perfectly - or imperfectly - its atoms are aarranged. Professor Gordon’s aaccount of material science is a demonstration of the ssometimes curious and eentertaining ways in which sscientists isolate and solve pproblems. 286pp, illustrated. PRICE £11.00

ENGINEER TO WIN by C Smith Although written primarily for the racing car enthusiast, Engineer to Win is equally useful to the home-builder. How do you choose the right nuts and bolts? How strong is it? Why did it break again? ‘Engineer to Win’ not only answers these and many other questions, it gives you the reasons why. Poor designs, incorrect manufacture andd assembly, unreasonable demands, and negligent maintenance all lead to the dreadedd mechanical failure. Practicing the advice by author Carroll Smith will spare you from many common faults and hazards. 278 pp, illustrated throughout. PRICE £22.00

56 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

WHY THINGS BREAK: UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD BY THE WAY IT COMES APART by Mark Eberhart erhart rt Did you know?... .. It took more than n an Iceberg to sink the Titanic. The Challenger disaster was predicted. Unbreakable glass dinnerwaree had its origin in railroad lanterns. A football team cannot losee momentum momentum. Mercury thermometers are prohibited on airplanes for a crucial reason. Mark Eberhart’s ‘Why Things Break’ explores the fascinating question of what holds things together (for a while), what breaks them apart, and why the answers have a direct bearing on our everyday lives. When Eberhart was growing up in the 1960s, he learned that splitting an atom leads to a terrible explosion - which prompted him to worry that when he cut into a stick of butter, he would inadvertently unleash a nuclear cataclysm. Years later, as a chemistry professor, he remembered this childhood fear when he began to ponder the fact that we know more about how to split an atom than we do about how a pane of glass breaks. In Why Things Break, Eberhart leads us on a remarkable and entertaining exploration of all the cracks, clefts, fissures, and faults examined in the field of materials science and the many astonishing discoveries that have been made about everything from the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger to the crashing of your hard drive. Understanding why things break is crucial to modern life on every level, from personal safety to macroeconomics, but as Eberhart reveals here, it is also an area of cutting-edge science that is as provocative as it is illuminating. 256pp. PRICE £11.00

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OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 57

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> HARTZELL PROPELLERS HARTZELL has just introduced a brand new aluminium prop for the Cessna 180 and 185, but it can also be used on early models of the 210 and 205. The three-bladed Top Prop is the ﬁrst that Hartzell has made for 185s with a TCM IO-470 engine. This new 82in prop has been designed to be tough, long-lasting and durable. Hartzell says, “Many of these Cessnas are used in harsh conditions where aircraft durability is essential. In the back country or on water, where a stone nick or water erosion can mean a no-ﬂy decision, pilots need to be able to rely on their aircraft and its parts. A metal propeller is the best option under such abusive conditions.” The new prop features ‘blended airfoil’ technology and ‘scimitar’ blades, which result in improved take-off and climb performance, ground clearance and aesthetics, says Hartzell. It has a TBO of 2400 hours/six years and a three-year warranty. Price: $9,400 W: www.hartzellprop.com

> COM LINK PRO ANGEL IF YOU’VE had your headset a while, an upgrade to one with Bluetooth and auxiliary input could be expensive. However, you do have another option. Com Link Pro has launched a headset audio interface called the Angel Personal Flight Assistant, which enables the pilot to sync up his or her mobile. It is able to take calls or play music from the phone and give clear sound. It has the ability to show caller ID, has direct dial and redial functions, a voice dial feature with one touch, and automatic cutout with radio transmissions. The Angel also has an integrated E6B ﬂight computer, a full-colour backlit screen with intuitive menus, long battery life with onscreen battery indicator, an ambient light sensor and a stop watch.

Price: $449 W: www.comlinkpro.com

> ZIVOSITY IPAD APP

> INSIGHT AVIONICS G3

APPS for the Apple iPad are all the rage and one of the newest on the market, launched at Oshkosh in July, is Beacon North America. Zivosity Software, the manufacturer, says it will perform all of the standard tasks a pilot would expect of a good GPS moving map application, including flying over georeferenced VFR and IFR charts and flight planning. It also provides geo-referenced approach plates and airport diagrams, configurable advance alarms for airspace, waypoints, fuel tank switching and obstacles. Its 3D viewing mode can display semitransparent 3D airspace as it would appear if viewed from the cockpit, a terrain awareness view showing colour-coded terrain around your plane, and weather information (with an internet connection). At the moment, the system only covers America, but a European version will be available in November.

INSIGHT Avionics has launched its new G3 digital colour graphic engine monitor, which will ﬁt into a normal slot on a six-pack panel. The new G3 will operate as a standalone instrument, but will also interface with other data sources and report information to other instruments such as a Multi Function Display (MFD). Data can be downloaded onto an STD card or stored on a PC for future reference. The clever part is the range of screens and measurements available on such a small unit. The pilot can toggle between monitor screen, probe diagnostics, engine vibration, propeller balance, turbulence, take-off performance and periodic temperature variation. The system boasts in-ﬂight real-time prop balance to help with engine smoothness, continuous probe diagnostic and will work on normally aspirated or turbocharged engines with SD Data Card for four, six or nine cylinders.

Price: $44.99 W: www.zivosity.com

Price: $3,200 W: www.insightavionics.com

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 59

Classifieds For all display or commercial advertising enquiries please call our Advertising Manager Dave Impey on +44 (0) 1223 497067 or email daveimpey@loop.aero

AIRCRAFT FOR SALE SORRELL HIPERBIPE. 2 seat cabin biplane, Lycoming IO-360, Hartzell aerobatic prop, Christen inverted oil, full inverted fuel, Narco Comm, Mode C. Aerobatic +6-3 G. Cruise 125knts. Permit April ’11. Only £19,750. Phone 07929 666 069.

You can email your classified advertisement direct to the LAA at the following address:

STREAK SHADOW. Farm strip closure. TTAF 670 TTE 145. David Cook undercarriage, always hangared, radio, headsets, cheap group A flying. Reluctant sale £6000. Call Peter on 07885 398 896 or (home) 0151 342 3861 or (work) 0151 342 8628. Permit December 2010. QUICK SALE.

sheila.hadden@laa.uk.com Next issue: NOVEMBER 2010 Deadline for booking and copy: 13th OCTOBER 2010 Classified advertising rates £15 per single column cm (one-off) £13 per single column cm (Series of six) £10 per single column cm (Series of 12) Display advertising rates Full page cover position £1500 Full page £1200 Half page £600 Quarter page £350 Eighth page £200 Insert prices on request If you would like to place an aircraft for sale advert please see details below:

GRUMMAN AA5 TRAVELLER 4 SEAT FACTORY BUILT TOURER. 1973 TTE/AF 2512 HRS. VOR/ADF/TRANSPONDER,GPS WING LEVELLER LOOKS GOOD AND FLIES BEAUTIFULLY. VERY RELIABLE AND SAFE.ONLY £12,000 FOR QUICK SALE TEL 07968 047 696

1/2 SHARE ROBIN DR1051MI 3 SEAT Based Oaksey, south of Cirencester. G-BHTC. New Permit. Airframe 1520hrs; beautiful, always hangared. Helpful co-owner! £12,500. Tel: 07967 805 059 or Email – am@angusmacaskill.com

Up to 30 words: £6; 31-50 words: £12 Up to 50 words with a coloured photo: £45

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Issue: NOVEMBER 2010 Deadline: 13th OCTOBER 2010 For aircraft sales classified advertising please send using the form printed on the reverse of the Mailing Sheet, together with cheques and photographs if applicable, to:

LAA Classifieds, Turweston Aerodrome, Nr Brackley, Northants NN13 5YD Tel: 01280 846786 • Fax: 01280 846780 LAA Engineering advice to buyers: AIRCRAFT APPROVED? Members and readers should note that the inclusion of all advertisements in the commercial or classified sections of this magazine does not necessarily mean that the product or service is approved by the LAA. In particular, aircraft types, or examples of types advertised, may not, for a variety of reasons, be of a type or standard that is eligible for the issue of a LAA Permit to Fly. You should not assume that an aircraft type not currently on the LAA accepted type list will eventually be accepted. IMPORTED AIRCRAFT? Due to unfavourable experiences, the purchase and import of completed homebuilt aircraft from abroad is especially discouraged. TIME TO BUILD? When evaluating kits/designs, it should borne in mind that technical details, performance figures and handling characteristics are often quoted for a factory-produced aircraft flying under ideal conditions. It is wise, therefore, to seek the opinion of existing builders and owners of the type. You should also take your own skill and circumstances into consideration when calculating build times. The manufacturer’s build time should be taken as a guide only. AMATEUR BUILDING All LAA aircraft builders and potential builders are reminded that in order to qualify for a LAA Permit to Fly, homebuilt aircraft must be genuinely amateur built. For these purposes the CAA provide a definition of amateur built in their publication CAP 659, available from LAA. An extract from CAP 659 reads “The building and operation of the aircraft will be solely for the education and recreation of the amateur builder. This means that he would not be permitted to commission someone else to build his aircraft”. An aircraft built outside the CAA’s definition could result in an expensive garden ornament.

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TRI KIS 90hrs O-240, 172 nose leg, Lodge prop. Dunkeswell. £15,999 ono. Contact Dave Silsbury 01752 690 358 or 07743 487 178 or dave.silsbury@talktalk.net

AIRCRAFT SHARES FOR SALE

MEMBERS’ ADVERTISEMENTS

To ensure that your advertisement is included, copy must reach the LAA by the following date:

ZENAIR ZODIAC 601 HD. In good condition. Excellent, easy to handle traildragger. Photos on www.afors.com. Reduced to £16,950. Please call 01244 671417.

Jabiru 450 SPL cat A (can convert to microlight) Reg 2006, 65 hrs engine, all VFR Ins, AH, MGL egt sensor, MGL fuel flow, Electric carb Heater, Leather seats, Murray Flint paint. Roof window, Always Hangared Tel 07831 204 280 £23000 ono

N-3 PUP G-BVEA. Delightful single-seat Cub look-alike. Mosler MMCB four-stroke engine. 60kts cruise. 10Lts/hr. 315hrs AF/Eng. Permit until 31Aug11. Sedate performance but get into any field. £6450. Call Dave 01522 720 567 JODEL D117A with disc brakes, covers, manuals, spares. Permit 12/10. Three ignition keys. Age related sale, view Defford, Croft farm for £19500. Phone 01242 672 494 evenings. MINIMAX 91 BUILT 2001. 180 hrs 447 Rotax.£10k spent on build, £4500. Long range tanks, spats, wing tips, wing trolley. Hangared East Fortune Tel – Iain 01620 860165 Mob 07922013213. EUROPA CLASSIC MONOWHEEL. 912UL. Cap 140 variable pitch propeller 450hrs. Permit July, Microair radio, Bendix transponder, fuel computer, cabin heater, oil thermostat. Empty weight 805lbs. Excellent flyer. 01666 503330, 07939 157426 £31000. AUSTER J1N G-APTR. Built 1959, Gipsy Major IC. Electric start, belly tank, metal propeller, four seats, 2610hrs airframe, permit to August 2011, £15,500 ono. Tel. 01522 778617.

AIRCRAFT FOR SALE (MULTI SEAT)

Rollason Condor D62B Factory built, RR 0-200 TTAF 4820, TTE 2425, new permit. Complete overhaul including re cover 2003. VGC throughout, well maintained and always hangared. Chris Lodge prop, 85-90kts at 2350 / 18-20 lts/hr. Nice handling combined with a good solid airframe with honest farm strip performance. £13,250, Steve 07776 075996

AIRCRAFT WANTED I WOULD BUY A WORN OR BROKEN JODEL just speak to me Ernie Horsfall Preston 01772 718550. 01242 672 494 evenings. FLATBED TRAILER, twin axle small wheels with winch, ramps, can holder, spare wheel. Built for Kitfox, suit most A/C or cars £400 phone 07816033858 or 02476 316 396 Midlands. STEEN SKYBOLT, (renovation or advanced unfinished project also considered ). Contact Dave on 07771 746 853 Email David@mbtools.org

AIRCRAFT PARTS

AIRCRAFT SERVICES

AIRWOLF remote oil filter kit, AFC-K008 for all Continental engines up to 450 H.P. Selling in the U.S. for $495. Price £250. Contact Mike on 01858 525 239

RECOVERING, RESTORATIONS, WOODWORK, PAINTWORK, ETC. Contact Trevor on 01829 720141 – 07719398831.

FOR SPRUCE, PLYWOOD, DOUGLAS FIR AND BALSA go to w w w. a i r c r a f t w o o d a n d t i m b e r. c o . u k . Mail: Dudleypattison@btinternet.com or telephone: 01793 791 517

For all advertising enquiries please call Chris Wilson on +44 (0)1223 497 067

IAN SEARSON AVIATION SERVICES LTD, Fabricwork, paintwork and restorations Air squadron Trophy winner Tailwheel conversions, proficiency checks and renewals on PIPER Cub. Midlands based 07790 949 349 www.ihs-avservices.co.uk DESIGN AERODYNAMICS, Stress, and Drawings Services. Modifications, complete light aircraft projects, through: BCAR(S), EASA(CS23), EASA(CS-VLA). Reasonable rates, some initial consultation time. Ksl Projects, email: eric@kingeng.co.uk John 07769 695 856

AIRCRAFT SERVICES EXPERIENCED BUILDER, Pilot, PFA Inspector for wood, metal and composite aircraft. Offers his services for repair work, recovering and spraying. Finishing off projects, assistance with kits and insurance work, building Inspection and Permit renewals.Also a weighing service using the latest computer pads for the most accurate weight possible! For further details contact Mike Hanley – Tel: 01872 560 771. Mobile: 07703 781 628, E-mail – mwhflyby@aol.com

COVERS

ENGINE AND ENGINE SPARES LYCOMING O320-D2B ENGINE FOR SALE. 160 HP, Lycoming overhauled, with documents. Never installed, still sealed. Location Germany (Bonn). Will e-mail photos, transport to UK possible. Steve Minter +49 163 880 3616 Stevepm2002@t-online.de

AVIONICS

FREE AIRCRAFT FERRYING. To expand my experience I am looking to ferry/re-locate light aircraft around southern half of the UK for FREE. I’m happy to travel and pay expenses. 100 hours + P1 on several types nose and tailwheel. Fast learning practical pilot/owner. References. Tel – Jonathan 07889 338 620 or e-mail: Jonathan@fly76.orangehome.co.uk

WANTED A PAIR OF VW ROCKER-BOX COVERS with valve de-compressors built in suitable for a Fournier RF3 1200cc Rectimo, or a complete engine please ring Chris on 01275371031, 07970573868 LEBURG IGNITION PARTS 2 coil units, timing disc, stator plate, thrust bearing, engine plate, (all new) Stator/ ex Honda alternator. £250 + carr. Tel – 07980 170418. ENGINE SET OF LYCOMING EXHAUST STACKS for O-320. Original part nos. For PA-30 offers 07866 141162 E-mail – brian@relitive.co.uk

Please mention Light Aviation when responding to advertisers OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 61

ENGINE AND ENGINE SPARES

GYROPLANES

MISCELLANEOUS

CRICKET GRYOPLANE Rotax 532, Dragon wings, IVO prop. Nice condition, low hours with new permit. Call Geoff 07860 726672, 01484 530109. GRYOPLANE AV18, MK6 CRICKET. Rotax 582, Rotordynes. Easy to fly, ideal for training with new permit. Call Geoff 07860 726672 or 01484 530109.

HANGARAGE

For all advertising enquiries please call Chris Wilson on +44 (0)1223 497 067

914F3 ROTAX ENGINE FOR SALE, Low hrs, £5,500 o.n.o. For more details call 07753794790

ENGINE OVERHAULS

Engine Overhauls / Shock loads /Repairs

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Lycoming & Continental specialist’s with over 25 yrs experience Magneto and Carburettor Inspections/ repairs and Overhaul’s EASA or LAA release.

Dukeries Aviation Ltd

KIT PLANES

01909 481802 07545066199 / 07753252291 evenings

GROUP FLYING C172 NORTH NORFOLK Non-equity group. IMC Equipped. Recently refurbished. £65/hr wet. £50 month. Low hour pilots welcome. No airspace restrictions. www.mcaullyflyinggroup.org Contact Peter Hayward 01692 402 810

SIXTH SHARE IN C120 based Henlow. Engine 235hrs SMOH TTAF 2450 hrs. £50 pcm £50 ph wet. New prop 2 years ago, new S/S exhaust 1 year. Aircraft hangared and well maintained. Good availability in long established and friendly group. Cost of share £3000, please call Martin 07768 202 237 e mail: martin.houseman@btinternet. com

PROJECTS CORBY STARLET, all structure complete and signed off. Some covering. Engine partly installed. Cowling needs fitting. Contact Bob Beard, Tel – 01364 642000 Northwood Buckfast Devon. TQ11 0EG. AVID SPEEDWING (G-BUZE). Starboard wing tip damaged sensible offers only. Work at sea preventing me from starting this project Tel: 0151 625 5676

PROPELLERS FAIREY REED PROPS FOR AUSTER J5G J5K, Messenger with Cirrus Major 3 engine. 07866 141162. Email – brian@relitive.co.uk

GOODWOOD BASED. Marquart Charger (Homebuilt) Tail Dragger Small friendly group. £120 pcm Enquiries Ray Maidment Tel/Fax Ray Maidment 01403 871 268 AA5 GROUP GAMSTON, 1/4 shares so great availability in 4 seater tourer, A/F 1900 hrs, zero time engine Lycoming O-320 150hp. Details@http://www.gbcpn.co.uk 07976 802 107 Gamston_aaa5@btinternet.com

62 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

EVRA 160/164/126 SUITS O-235 OR SIMILAR, on 140KT airframe, offers to 07879232319 or w8tailwind@ntlworld.com photos on flickr search planenutz.

PROPELLERS

TOOLS

TRIMMING

HYDRAULIC RIG FLUID 41 SINGLE PHASE 1.5kw variable flow and pressure with built-in tank, regulator by-pass valve, filter. For Piper and Cessna systems. Small wheeled chassis will fit in car boot. 22 x 26 x 30 inch high. Spare oil in cans £300. 07866 141162. Email – brian@relitive.co.uk

TRAINING

TUITION

PILOT SUPPLIES 2 BOSE HEADSETS with straight leads and jackpoints as new condition with cases. £450 each or £800 the pair. Contact Keith on 01983 868446.

TRANSPORTATION

ENCLOSED ALUMINIUM TRAILER FITTINGS for Rutan Vari Eze Door/ramp 5ft 10in wide. 18ft 6in internal length. For details email grahamsingleton@btinternet.com or call 07739 582 005

Interested in marketing your business in this section? TOOLS THEODOLITE WITH TRIPOD. Ideal instrument for rigging checks, hangar surveying etc. £125 o.n.o. For details email grahamsingleton@btinternet.com or call 07739 582 005

Call Chris Wilson on +44 (0)1223 497 067

WANTED WANTED A PAIR OF VW ROCKER-BOX COVERS with valve de-compressors built in suitable for a Fournier RF3 1200cc Rectimo, or a complete engine please ring Chris on 01275371031, 07970573868 ZENAIR CH701 PROJECT KIT, scratch build, out of permit etc. Email – goldwing@gmx. co.uk

OCTOBER 2010 LIGHT AVIATION 63

ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS HERE Call for a customised marketing campaign on 01223 497 067 64 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

FR EE !

lo tria Fo go l r n t of t a o o W his ne -m W fant on W as th .LO tic FR O web EE P. si A te ER ,

MAKE YOUR FLYING EASY! Let skybookGA™, the most integrated on-line pre-flight briefing service for the GApilot, take the pressure off planning your next flight OING flying this weekend? Will you be off to the south coast, working your way down through the busy air corridors of Luton, Stansted, Heathrow and Gatwick plus a host of other active airfields? Before you go, you need to know the best route, with the best information at your disposal. So, who do you turn to? It has to be the experts. Turn to skybookGA, the most integrated briefing service available, which ensures the relevant information for your flight is available wherever you are, whenever you want, before you set off. INDUSTRY EXPERTISE The service was created by flight planning experts Bytron, behind commercial flight briefing services used by major airlines, NATS and airport authorities. skybookGA is a spin-off from this professional commercial programme. When Bytron was formed 1984, its objective was to provide electronic briefing systems that would dispense with the uncertainty of fax and paper trails that hindered reliable data provision. Their mission to abolish unwieldy processes brought great benefits to professional pilots – and now GA pilots too. skybookGA benefits from the lengthy development process that went into the professional service. Rightfully known as ‘the

one-stop shop for pre-flight briefing,’ skybookGA offers comprehensive planning aids which allow pilots to easily customise routes, visualise them, and view in both Google Earth and Virtual Earth. At the invitation of Thomas Cook Airlines, which uses Bytron’s eFlight Briefing package, Bytron is working with Rolls-Royce subsidiary DS&S to create its first fully-integrated and connected Electronic Flight Bag (eFB), allowing maintenance data and engine monitoring on a global scale. FANTASTIC FEATURES FOR GA The beauty of skybookGA is the breadth of service it offers, catering well for the shortest low-level flight, all the way to upper level cross-border journeys – always being easy to use. skybookGA features include Personal Location Point information, which allows you to create waypoints and store them for future use. Airfield Brief is another brilliant feature, which allows search of airfields by name or ICAO and IATA codes. The information includes full airfield and runway details, plus all NOTAM/METAR/TAFS/ LTAFS/SNOWTAM affecting that airfield. The Great Circle Route Briefing will route width and upper flight level, and create a route using the shortest course between the airfields. The brief calculates all FIR and airfields within the route’s width and upper limit with NOTAM and MET info.

SIGMET advises on potential weather hazards other than convective activity over a 3000 square mile area, generating data on icing, turbulence, dust and even volcanic ash. AIRMET’s regional weather forecasts cover regions within the UK and is updated regularly throughout the day. Two of skybookGA’s integrated features that pilots particularly praise are the Quick Weather Maps and Danger Area Briefs. Quick Weather Maps allow you to view prevailing weather conditions and trends at a glance. They provide information on windspeed and direction, temperature, dew points, cloud cover and pressure. Danger Area Briefs allow searches for international and domestic NOTAM affecting Danger Areas by FIR, area name or number during specific time periods. It includes easy-to-view charts of UK Danger Areas. International NOTAM contains information about the establishment, condition or change in any facility, service, procedure or hazard. The most recent development is the Pilot Log (Plog), based on departure, destination, flight level and flight corridor, and even fuel burn. Routing data can be exported to GPs devices too. It’s small wonder GA pilots cherish the comprehensive briefing data that skybookGA offers. They feel confident that every eventuality has been covered, before setting off to the airport.

NEW AND IMPROVED! skybook GA™ now has loads of new features, including: GPS ROUTE EXPORTER Easy to use, this feature enables you to convert and download the route plot created on skybookGA into 50 GPS ﬁle formats.

NOTAM F & G Has been added to all brieﬁng packs: Plain language display of NOTAM upper and lower heights (F & G ﬁelds).

RAINFALL RADAR Met images are updated every 15 min. Shows the previous 3, 6, 9 and 24 hours and forecasts the next three hours’ expected rainfall.

RESTRICTED AREAS (TEMP) MAP This has now been updated so you can see multiple NOTAM that are centred on the same point.

SATELLITE IMAGES The display for satellite images has been updated to a carousel display to aid searching which now can be opened in a separate window.

METAR FEED This loads airﬁeld METAR details onto Google Earth. Wind speed, direction and cloud cover are displayed. You can also seelive weather along your route.

For more details and all the latest updates visit www.skybookga.com SKYBOOK GA ARE ALWAYS LOOKING TO IMPROVE OUR PRODUCTS, IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS LET US KNOW AT SUPPORT@SKYBOOKGA.COM TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR SPECIAL ONE-MONTH FREE TRIAL OFFER, OR TO SUBSCRIBE, GO TO WWW.LOOP.AERO, CLICK ON THE SKYBOOK TAB AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. YOU’LL WONDER HOW YOU EVER COPED WITHOUT IT!

> WHERE TO GO

MAKE THE MOST OF AUTUMN The flying season is coming to an end with a final few events over the Autumn

See wonderful aircraft like the WWII Westland Lysander at Shuttleworth.

There are not so many events on the calendar as we wave goodbye to summer, so it will be a case of snatching the odd day when the weather plays ball and heading off somewhere not too far away for that £100 burger! For those lucky enough to be heading off to sunnier climes, datess for a variety of events around the world are included below, plus, of course, dates for the new joint GASCo/CAA Safety Evenings up and down the country. Everybody is welcome to attend these safety evenings and no matter how many y hours you have in your logbook, or how many years you have been ﬂying, you will learn something useful by attending. We’ve also included a quick peak k at some dates already penned in for 2011, all courtesy of Dave Wise and the Royal Aero Club website. www.royalearoclub.org PHOTO www.airteamimages.com

OCTOBER 2 2 2

Kidlington Air Britain AGM Thruxton Circuit Race Meeting (airfield closed) Vauxhall Rec Club, Luton Luton Aircraft Enthusiasts Fair 01372-725063 2-3 Mafikeng - Potchefstroom (ZS) North-West Airshow 2-3 Rougham 1940’s weekend 01359 270524 2-10 Debrecen (HA) FAI HA Balloon World Ch’ship 3 Old Warden Shuttleworth Autumn Air Display [PPR] 01767-627927 3 Goodwood Car Race Circuit Meeting 5-7 Cascais-Tires (CS) Helitech Portugal Trade Show (pre-register) 5-10 Citywest Hotel, Dublin (EI) FAI General Conference 8-9 Hondo, Tx (N) EAA South West Regional Fly-In 001-830-997-8802/ 971-857-3327 10 Bern - Beudenfeld (HB) Centenary Event 10 Duxford Autumn Air Show 01223-835000 10 Popham End of Season Fly-in 01256-397733 10 Weston-super-Mare Helicopter Museum Open Cockpit Day 17 Thruxton Circuit Race Meeting (airfield closed) 19-21 Atlanta, Ga (N) NBAA Business Aircraft Convention 001-202-783-9000 30 Leicester VAC All Hallows Fly-in 0116-258-2360 30 Wickenby End of SeasonFly-in 01673-885000

NOVEMBER 2-4 6 6 6-7

Dubai (A6) Heli Show Sofitel Hotel, Heathrow Professional Flight Training Exhibition 01225-481440 Old Warden Shuttleworth Annual Aviation Lecture 01767-627927 Frankfurt Turnhalle (D) Aviation Memorabilia Convention 0049-69-618740

7 8-11 13 16-21 17-18

Goodwood Car Race Circuit Meeting Tripoli-Mitiga (5A) Libyan Defence Exhibition Turweston LAA AGM 01280-846786 Zhuhai (B) China Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition Olympia, London Heli-Power Conference & Trade Exhibition 19 Littlebury Hotel, Bicester VAC AGM & Social 20-21 Temora, NSW (VH) Museum Flying Days 21 Weston-super-Mare Helicopter Museum Open Cockpit Day 28 Middle Wallop Museum Enthusiasts Fair & Model Show 01264-334779

2011 12 Jan Elstree Aero Club Mike Grant 02089 533432 25 Jan Leeds/Bradford Airport Multiflight Flight Training Centre 01132 387130 26 Jan Sandtoft Airfield Terminal 01427 873676 27 Jan North Coates Flying Club 01652 618808 17 Feb Plymouth Plymouth Airport Lyn Facy 01752 773335 23 Feb Coventry Aero Club 02476 301428 24 Feb Penkridge, Staffs Haling Dene Centre 01889 882871 22 Mar Kinross (Portmoak) Scottish Gliding Centre TBC 24 Mar Inverness Highland Aero Club 01463 713086 26 Mar Prestwick Airport TBC

DECEMBER

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2011

5 7-9

1 Jan Leicester New Year Fly-in 21-22 Jan Masterton (ZK) Wings Over Wairarapa Airshow 3-6 Feb Ashburton (ZK) SAA-NZ Great Plains National Fly-in 8-11 Feb Yelahanka (VT) Aero India Exhibition 26-27 Feb Omaka (ZK) Tiger Moth Club Fly-in 1-6 Mar Avalon, Vic (VH) Australian Int. Air Show 12-15 Apr Rio de Janeiro (PP) LAAD 13-16 Apr Friedrichshafen (D) AERO GA Exhibition 22-24 Apr Blenheim-Omaka (ZK) Classic Fighters Airshow 17-19 May Geneva (HB) European Business Aviation Conf. 3-6 Jun Sherburn ILAS Anglo-Irish Fly-in 13 Jun Oostwold (PH) Air Show 20-26 Jun Le Bourget (F) Paris Air Show 16-17 Jul Old Warden LAA Shuttleworth Party in the Park 16-17 Jul Fairford RIAT Military Display 01285-713300 16-17 Jul Sywell Aero Expo 25-31 Jul Oshkosh, Wi (N) EAA AirVenture 30 Jul Texel (PH) Air Show 2-4 Sep Kirchheim Hahnweide (D) Old-timer Fly-in 11-16 Oct Belgrade,Serbia (4O) FAI General Conference 15-22 Oct Beer Sheva (4X) FAI World Microlight Ch’ships

12 27

Goodwood Car Race Circuit Meeting Dubai (A6) MEBA - Middle East Business Aviation Show Weston-super-Mare Helicopter Museum Christmas Fun Day Wickenby Christmas Fly-in 01673-885000

GASCo/CAA SAFETY EVENINGS 2010 20 Oct Rochester Aerodrome Innovation Centre 01634 869969 3 Nov Shobdon Aerodrome Airfield Clubhouse 01568 708369 11 Nov Bristol International Bristol & Wessex Flying Club 01275 472514 15 Nov Sandbach, Cheshire TBD 01889 508406 16 Nov Manchester City Airport Barton nick.duriez@cityairportltd.com 24 Nov Bournemouth Flying Club 01202 578558 1 Dec Shoreham LAA Southern Strut Location and contact tbc

LIGHT AVIATION’s Where to Go pages are produced in association with the Royal Aero Club. Full events listings can be found at www.royalaeroclub.org and updates can be sent to David Wise at dave.wise@btinternet.com

66 LIGHT AVIATION OCTOBER 2010

This ﬂight bag is already packed.

EUROCONTROL ENROUTE CHARTS

AV8OR ACE™ version 2.0, the newest member of a fully loaded family.

The traditional flight bag has been grounded. Bendix/King by Honeywell is once again providing pilots with a tool that’s made specifically for them. The new AV8OR ACE version 2.0, available now with Eurocontrol charts, is the latest in paperless, full electronic flight bag solutions. Its smaller, lightweight design puts everything from navigation and weather to multi-media entertainment in the palm of your hand. With its geo-referenced charts and large, easy-to-use touchscreen, you can clearly see your position as you stay on course—just another feature in a list you won’t find on other units. So put down your old flight bag and visit us online to locate your authorized dealer.

EUROCONTROL IFR/VFR APPROACH PLATES

EUROPE EUROCONTROL CHART AVAILABILITY

EUROCONTROL IFR ENROUTE CHARTS

THE AV8OR FAMILY

HANDHELD

bendixking.com/av8or

ACE

HORIZON 3D

0131 447 7777 WWW.GPS.CO.UK • FAX: 0131 452 9004 49-51 COLINTON ROAD • EDINBURGH EH10 5DH

GARMIN GPS and AVIONICS

DYNON AVIONICS EUROPEAN DISTRIBUTOR FOR DYNON AVIONICS “Affordable Glass Cockpit avionics and autopilot for the LAA home builder, Flexwing and 3 axis ULM Microlights”

GNC 420 GPS/Comm ........ £3595 GNS 430W GPS/Com/Nav £5395 Supplied with harness for LAA aircraft • Touch screen Aviation GPS • Jeppesen Aviation Database • Detailed topography with built-in terrain/obstacles alerting • Preloaded street maps of Europe • Turn-by-turn directions with voice guidance

GPSMAP 695 £1565 GPSMAP 495 £825 GPSMAP 496 £935 GPSMAP 196 £345 NEW ÆRA 500 £539 GPSMAP 96C £295 Also available the NEW ÆRA 550 GPSMAP 96 .. £240 with extra features ..... £950 Air Gizmo from .. £75

IC-A24E

TRANSCEIVERS

GTX 328 Mode S transponder £1640 GTX 330 transponder .... Call SL 40 Comm ................. £1095 SL 30 Nav/Comm ........ £2369 GMA 340 Audio panel .. £875 GMA 240 Audio panel .. £599 GI106A CDI ................... £1295 NEW G3X EFIS/EMS SYSTEM SPECIAL SYSTEM PRICE 1 display £5495 SPECIAL SYSTEM PRICE 2 displays £6995

BENDIX/KING

Engine Management

Auto Pilot Systems

NEW SkyView EFIS and EMS

EFIS-D6 ....... £1050 EFIS-D60 ..... £1250 EFIS-D10A .. £1450 EFIS-D100 .. £1480

EMS-D10 .... £1100 EMS-D120 .. £1300 FlightDEK-D180 £2000 HS34HSI module £465

SV32 servo (36in/lb) £530* SV42 servo (55in/lb) £530* AP74 Interface module £320* EFIS-D10A +2 servos £2450 *requires D10A/100/180

SV-D700 7”display £1700 SV-D1000 10”display £2275 SV-ADAHRS-200 ... £775 SV-EMS-220/A ...... £400 SV-GPS-250 GPS rec. £150

TRAFFIC ALERT Portable Traffic Alert System

Icom IC-A6E* Sports pack ..... £169 IC-A6E* Pro pack .......... £259 IC-A24E* Sports pack ..... £233 IC-A24E* Pro pack .......... £310 IC-A210 ............ £850 IC-A110 ............ £550

Electronic Flight Information

BECKER

CUSTOM PANELS

AR4201 VHF Com .......... £950 BXP-6401 transponder £1515

TRIG

Zaon MRX £349

TRIG TT31 Class 1 Mode S £1575 TRIG TT21 Class 2 Mode S £1260 TRIG TT22 Class 1 Mode S £1595

Zaon XRX £899

ATR500 transceiver ......... £795 ATR833 transceiver ....... £1190

Uniden UBC30XLT ............... £ 55 Icom IC-R6 .......................... £160 Icom IC-RX7 ....................... £199

AV80R GPS ........................ £499 AV80R ACE 7”screen ........ £1295 AV80R ACE with “GO DRIVE” £1395 SKYMAP III C with database £950 KMD150GPS (panel mount) £1795 KY97A VHF Comm 14v (OHC) £995 KY96A VHF Comm 28v ........ £1250 KR87ADF system (OHC) ..... £1795 KN64 DME (OHC) ............ £1295 KX155 Nav/Comm (OHC) ..... £1500 KY196/197A VHF Comm (OHC) £1500

AIRBOX

MX11 replacement Com £795 MX170C Nav/Com ....... £1295 MX300 Nav/Com .......... £1195 MC60 VOR GS Indicator .. £360

Freedom Clarity GPS ... £510 Foresight 7” screen GPS £1190

M760 transceiver ............. £675

We can supply an avionics package to meet your specific requirements ready for immediate installation. All looms are custom made by our engineers. If required, the avionics can be built into our new radio rack mounting system. Please call for pricing and more information.

LIGHTSPEED

SENNHEISER

BOSE

HEADSETS

MICRO AVIONICS

Air MkX best value ANR Headset £169 HM40best value GA Headset £ 89 HM51child headset ........... £ 79 Peltor 8006 GA headset £150 Peltor Helicopter headset R22/44 £175 Peltor Helicopter headset £175 David Clark H10-30 ........ £189 David Clark H10-13.4 ..... £219 David Clark H10-13H ...... £229 David Clark H10-60 ........ £249

MM001B Helmet ................ £345 MM001C Helmet with VOX £406 MM001 Headset ............... £180 MM001A ANR Headset .... £240 NEWMM006 Bluetooth adaptor £140 wireless connection for your mobile phone MM020A Helmet with visor £138 MM005 Radio Interface ...... £182 MM008 PPT switch .......... £ 29 Single, twin or triple strobes from £ 79

* approved for ground use only. We stock a full range of Icom Accessories

Receivers

FUNKWERK AVMAP EKP IV moving map GPS £995

Home/Kit Builders

MICHEL / TKM

MICROAIR

HME95 Lightweight GA Headset £135 HME100 GA Headset ............. £169 HMEC250 ANR GA Headset .... £299 HMEC26KA Lightweight ANR .. £499

INTERCOMS The Aviation Consumer Product of the year 2008 The revolutionary Lightspeed Zulu offers: Unrivalled comfort, Blue tooth mobile phone connectivity and auxiliary music imput

Zulu ANR GA version ............. £569 Zulu ANR GA coil cord ............ £599 Zulu ANR Helicopter version £599 Zulu ANR Lemo panel version £569

HM2 place portable ............ £79 HM2 place for Icom w/PTT £99 HM4 place portable ............ £99 Sigtronics SPA400 ............. £169

PS Engineering PM 501 panel mount 4 place £185 PM 1000 4 place prices from £235 PM 3000 stereo 4 place ......... £375 PMA 4000 Audio Panel ......... £499 PMA 6000C Audio Panel ....... £695

INSTRUMENTS RC ALLEN (TSO approved) RCA22-7 vacuum horizon ....... £515 RCA22-11 vacuum horizon lit .. £599 RCA26EK electric horizon .... from £1495 RCA2600 digital electric horizon £1775 RCA11A-8 vacuum D.G. ........... £515 RCA11A-16 vacuum D.G. lit ..... £599 RCA15EK electric D.G........ from £1495 RCA82A turn coordinator .......... £515 JP INSTRUMENTS (TSO approved) FS450 fuel flow ...................................... £439 EDM700-4C engine management ... £999 EDM700-4C with fuel flow ............... £1435 EDM700-6C engine management ... £1399 EDM700-6C with fuel flow ............... £1799 PRECISION TSO vertical card compass £299

Non TSO instruments for LSA Homebuilt or Experimental Aircraft GH030 vacuum horizon .............. £290 GH025 electric horizon 14volt ... £799 GD031 vacuum D.G. .................... £290 GD023 electric D.G. 14volt ........ £799 BZW-4B turn coordinator .......... £275 TC02E turn coordinator ............. £275 BC-3E altimeter ........................... £180 ALT20MBF-3 altimeter 20,000 ft £269 BC-2A vertical speed ind. ............ £99 VS12FM-3 vertical speed ind. ..... £99 Magnetic Compass ......................... £99 Vertical Card Compass ................ £199 Air Speed Indicators from .......... £99

NEW Bose A20 Headset

A20 Standard version ....... £710 A20 with bluetooth ............ £783 Bose X GA version ........... £579 Bose X helicopter version £579 All other Bose versions available

AMERI-KING

SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT 406MHz Personal Locator Beacons

Survival Products 4-6 Person Rafts Weighs only

5.5

AK-451 ELT is a TSO’d, JAA JTSO’d approved 406 MHZ ELT .................. £649 • Suitable for fixed wing and helicopters • Triple transmit 406 satellite/243 Military/121.5 Civilian • Antenna options – Blade, Rod, Whip, Portable • Up to 78 hours battery life • Reliable sealed G switch • Simple installation – all accessories included • Coding Programming included • Self Test built in

AK-350-30 Altitude Encoder ..... £142

Kilos

The Lightest most compact raft in the World

Raft with canopy .......... £999 Raft with equipment ... £1185 HM Survivor Slim line lifejacket with whistle and light ....... £65 Survival Products FV-35F TSO approved life jacket ........ £39

FAMILY RUN ADD 17.5% VAT - UK & EU ONLY BUSINESS FOR OPEN MON-FRI 9am-5.30pm – NEXT DAY UK MAINLAND DELIVERY FROM £8.00 If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, please return the goods in original condition within All prices subject to change. OVER 20 YEARS 28 days for replacement, exchange or a full no quibble refund.

Kannad XS-4

Kannad XS-ER

GME MT410G

Kannad XS-4 GPS PLB ......... £195 McMurdo FastFind Max-G PLB £279 Kannad XS-ER GPS PLB ......... £299 GME MT410G with GPS ......... £285

CAA/EASA APPROVED

RUN BY PILOTS FOR PILOTS