Newsletter Jul 14

“Contact” Finally summer has arrived in South East England! After the very wet winter and several recent poor summers the weather really seems to have returned to the settled and warm conditions that we seem to specifically get in our little corner of Essex. May and June have both proven to be very dry and we are almost getting into a drought, which contrasts so strongly with the winter. The club has had a very busy couple of months, with lots of successes (detailed later) and yet despite the lovely weather the last few weekends have got a bit quieter, perhaps people are watching the world cup or Wimbledon. Either way don’t get out of the habit. If you are rusty or if you have exceeded the Club’s 90 day currency rule then get one of the instructors to give you a shake down. It doesn’t hurt and we even try and make it fun. offered him a job at the flying school she runs at Andrewsfield. Nice!

Congratulations

Luke Sutcliffe on your 1st time pass in your Commercial Pilot’s Licence. Again the course was completed in the minimum 25 hours and the independent CAA examiner can be quoted as saying “that was an easy decision”. Well done.

During the busy spring period Southend Flying Club and the hard working students/members have achieved some really good results. I have included a summary here of the ones I can remember. Apologies if I’ve forgotten you, just moan at me and I’ll put you in our hall of fame next time around!

Stephen Lowe on his 1st time pass in his Private Pilot’s Licence and night rating.

Stephen has already said he wants to carry on learning and has started differences training onto our PA28 Arrow.

Congratulations go to: Jay Sadri for your 1st time pass on the Flying Instructor course. The course was completed in the minimum 30 hours and he managed to land a job at Blackbushe within days of finishing. In fact it was before he’d even got the Instructor certificate issued.

Finally first solo flights from Raj Vora and Tom Jordan finish off a really good set of results.

Recommended Trips

James Macleod for your 1st time pass in your Commercial Pilot’s Licence. The course was completed in the minimum 25 hours and the independent CAA examiner was full of praise, for what he described as a very good test.

Your hard work clearly paid dividends.

On bank holiday Monday in May, we had a Fly out to Duxford. This was a really well supported trip and everyone had a great flight and day out at the airfield. Even the weather was on our side for a change. We had 5 aircraft go, with 16 people, 3 instructors and 2 students. If you have never flown to Duxford it is worth the 50 minute flight to get there and is a very simple place to visit.

Mark Pearson on renewing his Flying Instructor certificate. We did Mark’s initial instructor course 3 years ago and he subsequently worked as an instructor in Australia for most of that time. His examiner Carol was so impressed she subsequently

1

circuits in 1960’s military jets.

Background Duxford has a long and distinguished history as an airfield. It was built during the 1st world war and remained as an operational base until the 1960’s.

During the Battle of Britain it was a frontline fighter base and by 1943 it was handed over to the US Air Force who ultimately used it to provide air cover for the D Day landings with their Thunderbolt fighters. After the war the airfield, like many others, was wound down and for 15 years its future remained unsure.

The 1st squadron to get the Spitfire in 1938 was at Duxford

Currently

A Rapide over Duxford. You can take a pleasure flight in it. It might even be flown

by Danny of Jan who both instruct at Southend

Salvation for the airfield came in 1977 from the Imperial War Museum who were looking for a new site for the exhibits that were too large for their London base. Together with Cambridgeshire Council they purchased the runway and it has slowly evolved into one of the leading aviation museums in Europe with world famous air displays and aircraft restorations carried out there as well. It is a huge site and can easily occupy a whole day, with exhibits ranging from a Concorde to the ultra-high speed SR71 Blackbird and part of the Iraqi super gun project.

Flying In Duxford is a fairly easy airfield to operate into.

There are 2 runways, one grass, and one hard although they normally only want historic aircraft or taildraggers on the grass so you will be expected to go onto the hard runway, which is easily long enough at 1500m. The airfield operates as Duxford information, so don’t expect clearances or instructions in the air but you can have instructions on the ground and a basic service whilst flying. The only difficulty in using the airfield is due to strict noise abatement rules, so a telephone brief and prior permission is required.

Difficulty: 2 out of 5 (no ATC to tell you what to do) Appeal: 5 Distance to fly: 52nm Landing fee: £13.95 (+Museum entrance fee)

Just one of the packed hangars If you need a break from looking around then there are several places to get food and drink and you can sit in the sun and watch the activity on the runway, where it could be everything from trial flights in Tiger Moths to 2

Practical Airmanship: – Alternator Failure Alternator Failure I can’t be sure but I imagine that radio failure is the most common “emergency” (see the last newsletter on Finger Trouble for 90% of them). Second on the list may well be alternator/electrical failure. The alternators on our Lycoming powered aircraft are belt driven and convert rotational kinetic energy from the engine to A/C current. This is then rectified into DC current which is used to power the aircraft electrical systems and charge the battery.

This means there are a fair few components in the system and any failure would render the aircraft without a continuous power supply.

Spotting the alternator failure Probably the first symptom of an alternator failure you will see will be the low voltage warning light illuminating, but note that this can also happen at low RPM such as taxiing with all the lights on. If this happens during flight, the next thing to check is the ammeter. There are 2 styles of ammeters used on our aircraft, one reads zero upwards and is fitted to the pipers, the other reads zero in the centre, has a positive and negative side, and is found in the Cessna.

A Piper style ammeter reading 0 upwards

A Cessna ammeter showing both negative and positive sides

The indications mean different things, so it is important you know which one is in you aircraft and what it represents. The Piper style ammeter is the simplest to understand. It shows the amount of current in Amps being supplied by the alternator to charge the battery and power the aircraft electrical systems. As load increases the value shown gets higher and if the alternator fails it will read zero.

“The indications mean different things”

The Cessna style ammeter shows the amount of current being passed into the battery, so on start up or with a discharged battery, it will have a positive reading. As the flight progresses and the battery is charged it will read 0, even though the alternator is working happily and supplying enough current to power the electrical systems. In the event of an alternator failure the ammeter will show a negative value as the battery will start to discharge whilst it powers the electrical system.

3

What next?

“Don’t panic”

The first thing to remember is not to panic.

A faulty alternator doesn’t mean the engine is going to stop or behave any differently. Engineers thought this through years ago and fitted the Lycoming engines with magnetos. These are self-contained units and produce the electricity for the spark plugs from the rotating movement of the crankshaft.

Next you need to apply some basic airmanship to the situation. If there is any indication there is something else wrong with the aircraft such as smoke, or rough running, then consider a forced landing or precautionary landing. In poor weather, if you are out of range of Southend or in busy airspace get and stay visual then divert to the nearest airfield which will probably have a maintenance organisation. The chances are though, that you are flying in class G airspace in pretty good weather, so continue the flight normally and return to Southend.

Returning to land However the clock is now ticking. The battery will provide power for around 30 minutes but this can vary drastically with the load on it. You now need to reduce load as far as possible, so that at the more important stage of the flight i.e. the approach and landing you can be confident of having a reliable radio. Run through the cockpit and see what you can switch off. Strobe lights, landing lights, most of the avionics except one radio can go off. Do advise ATC that you will be switching the transponder off and consider going totally non radio until in the immediate vicinity of the airfield, radio transmissions use considerable power. Advise your passengers the intercom may go off and not to panic.

“The clock is now ticking”

Approaching the airfield keep transmissions as brief as possible, you can declare a state of urgency if you must, but it will only serve to get you chased around the taxiways by the fire engines. Far better to keep your head and make an uneventful join into the circuit and landing. Remember if your airfield is in Class D airspace you must obtain a clearance and they may want you to divert to an airfield in Class G. If despite all your efforts the battery finally dies then you will be non-radio and your intercom will be off. Half the aircraft on the UK register are non-radio, so don’t think this is a disaster. If returning to Southend then keep your eyes peeled, maintain 1500’ and circle around the white chimney in Rochford.

Time to remember those light signals!

The most important one for you is a steady green light indicating cleared to land. If you are approaching an uncontrolled airfield don’t expect any light signals, look for a signal square and follow the instructions, or keep your eyes peeled and join in the circuit to land.

4

Breaking News: Radio Mandatory Zone Just in! A new Radio Mandatory Zone has been established at Southend from the 18th July 2014. All pilots flying into Southend have a legal obligation to abide by the new rules.

Read the CAA information notice below for details:

“Without 2 way communications remain clear” If a pilot is unable to establish two-way radio communication then they should remain clear of the RMZ; except when taking off from a site within the RMZ where communications before getting airborne is not possible. In this case the pilot should comply with any locally agreed procedures and establish two-way communication as soon as possible. It may be possible for the pilot to negotiate access prior to the flight taking place if radio contact cannot be established for any reason

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has today confirmed that a temporary Radio Mandatory Zone (RMZ) will be put in place around London Southend Airport. The RMZ, which was requested by the airport operator, will go live on 18 July 2014 and will remain in place until a decision is made regarding the airport’s application for controlled airspace.

The CAA will review the RMZ in spring 2015.

After a request to the senior air traffic controller, he has confirmed that with radio failure, squawk 7600 and circle the Rochford chimney at 1500’ as we have always done (see light signals above!).

London Southend Airport, which sits within Class G airspace, has seen a significant increase in commercial air transport movements in the last two years. The airport completed its consultation on establishing controlled airspace in the vicinity at the end of December 2013 and formally submitted an airspace change proposal in June 2014.

“Pilots will need to contact Southend before entering the zone” Although an ATC clearance is not required, to gain entry to an RMZ, a pilot must establish two-way communication with air traffic control before entering, they must then remain on frequency while in the zone unless instructed otherwise. The initial call should take the form of the name of the ATC unit being called, aircraft call sign, type of aircraft, position, level and the intentions of the flight.

The new RMZ shown on a 1:250,000 scale chart

Pilots planning to fly through the Southend RMZ will need to contact Southend on 130.775MHz before entering the zone.

Aircraft not fitted with radios can still operate in the RMZ providing the pilot is able to coordinate arrangements with Southend ATC prior to departure.

5

Safety Management System Under the new European rules we are now required to have a safety management system in place at the Flying Club. All this means is that if you feel you have seen anything unsafe in any of the activities at the club, then you are encouraged to make an anonymous report, we will then review it and see if anything can be done. The folder is in the main building explaining the process, feedback will also be left in the folder.

Part of the safety system is the spreading of safety information via this newsletter, so on the last page I am detailing the first incident to come under the new system.

I used a private set up run by British pilots/instructors who are also FAA instructors near Vero Beach. They provided the aircraft, check flight needed to obtain the FAA licence (if you can land without kangarooing down the runway it’s not a problem), and most importantly will facilitate you with an FAA official who will verify your identity/paperwork to get you entered into the FAA IACRA database - that is a major saving in effort. If you go to an all American flight school they may not help you avoid the Orlando FAA office visit and you would need to talk to them prior to arriving as to how they would like to proceed.

If you go it alone, after the IACRA registration you are free to get your verification flight wherever you want and your FAA licence follows several weeks later, but you can fly with the temporary paperwork. The penalties for both pilot and school for incorrect paperwork are horrendous after 9/11and so most are very cautious.

Flying in the USA Thank you to John Selby for sending in the following short article about flying in America.

With only 100 hours total and being a regular visitor to Florida I gave it a try and I am now hooked. Despite dealing with two aviation authorities it’s actually quite easy. The steps are: 1) Send form SRG1160 and £44 to the CAA see caa.co.uk/licence verification. This authorises the CAA to release your info to the FAA. 2) Send form AC 8060 to the FAA (and you guessed it, no fee) to request them to confirm your licence with the CAA - see faa.gov/licence verification 3) Officially wait 4-6 months, recommend minimum 3 months but my papers from the FAA took only 3 weeks.

4)The FAA will send you a confirmation document and you have 6 months to use this to confirm the FAA licence at a local FAA office (i.e. Orlando) and a check flight.

5) At this point you have to decide what organisation to book with.

“Looks horrendous, but in practice is easy” Florida is the world’s biggest flight training location worth over $11 billion a year so there are schools at just about every airfield. In addition to the check flight I used the local British pilot/instructor to get me used to USA airspace as it looks horrendous with so much military presence indicated but in practice is so easy.

There are a few things to be aware of but generally is very easy going and a joy to fly. I did find Vero Beach intimidating at first as it

Choose your school well 6

has flight schools with over 150 aircraft and usually two parallel runways in use with what looked like bluebottle flies swarming around the circuit. Stopping on the runway to request an exit elicited a dressing down over the radio!

“Having Peter and Mark to chat to at Southend is worth more than most think” My local school for my regular rental visits is now at Leesburg Regional Airport and is a quiet airfield as are most of the several dozen fields in Florida but say more than 'Have a Nice Day' to an instructor and you get charged 0.1 hrs! Having Peter and Mark to chat to at Southend is worth more than most think.

You thought ditching in the channel was scary!

With the usual clear weather and long distances getting 10 hours in a week is easy but taking off in 98F heat makes quite a difference so check your weights! Even SkyDemon works out there!

N.B. There has been mention that the CAA now provides verification of identity checks on behalf of the FAA but I think this relates to those UK licence holders who already have an FAA licence issued on the basis of a Part FCL licence that has been reissued with the European licence number format since Sept 2012.

Many airfields have good restaurants to entice the flyers to drop in for breakfast or lunch - a different world to the UK! There are three essential publications available now from Transair - VFR Radio Procedures in the USA, Say it Again Please and the USA Flight Guide (airfield info). Also listening to 'ATC Live' on the computer or tablet was helpful as they speak very fast and not shy to admonish you but can also be so helpful especially with 'Flight Following'.

Final footnote from me – Training for any ratings or licences in the USA, FAA or EASA requires very different approvals and the process can be long and convoluted. It also does not carry over very well to flying in England, so you end up doing a fair back here as well.

If anyone is thinking about it then do not hesitate to contact me through the club. I fly or drop in most weeks and very happy to sit down with my maps and publications to talk you through. Having set it up and with your FAA licence in hand it is so easy to have wonderful flights (still not sure about flying over the swamps) and requires just a biennial flight check with an FAA licenced instructor slow flight, steep turns and a few go arounds seemed to do it.

7

Safety Corner Most of you have heard that the Cessna, GBGAF, was recently damaged in a landing accident at Southend. Sadly the damage was serious enough that insurance company have decided to write her off. Luckily the pilot was not hurt and walked away shaken but otherwise ok.

there still seems to be a reluctance to do it early enough. The AAIB reports are littered with pilot reports along the lines of “in hindsight I should have gone around”!

What is needed is a change in mind-set. If you are fully in control of the aircraft, it will touch down exactly where you want it to (in the middle, near the start would be a good idea),

“What is needed is a change in mindset” when you expect it to. If this doesn’t happen, then you cannot be in full control. You may be floating too far, drifting towards the edge, ballooning up or just haven’t touched down yet as you flared too high.

Be stricter with yourself and go around anytime it isn’t going exactly as planned, the early go around will be a relaxed transition to full power, with a climbing attitude before retracting flap and gear as needed.

AF showing damage to wings and nose. It is worse close up I watched the accident and it was a normal approach to about 6ft, the flare was too aggressive and the aircraft ballooned. From this the aircraft entered a nose high sink and impacted the runway very hard on the back wheels. In the resulting bounce the pilot attempt a go around, but held too high an angle of attack, went out of balance and entered a spin from about 20ft. AF hit the grass next to the runway on the propeller and wing tip, before bouncing onto the other wing, breaking both main spars.

If you haven’t needed to go around for years, then perhaps you should just do it for the practice on your next flight. All skills erode without practice and the day you will need it is bound to be the one when you are at max all up weight, on the crosswind limit trying to land on a short strip!

Emergency of the Month

Subsequently talking to the pilot afterwards he described the balloon as not that bad, which is why he didn’t go around. After the bounce he went around, but was clearly not in control of the aeroplane at this point and entered a spin.

Whilst in the cruise in a PA28, the aeroplane starts to vibrate and the engine seems to be coughing, misfiring and losing power.

Whilst your priority should be setting up for a forced landing, which controls/systems in the cabin could you check to try and resolve the problem?

The pilot had, within the last 90 days, practiced stalling, spin recovery, bounce recovery and going around and yet by the time he came to do it was in an attitude that was very difficult if not impossible to recover from.

I can think of seven quickly.

If switching off 1 magneto solves the problem, what has happened and should you continue the forced landing?

So all of us know we should go around from an approach or landing gone wrong and yet 8