Some great flying…

It’s been a busy month here, and I’m feeling fortunate to have had enjoyed finding opportunities to fit in some great flying, thanks to some pretty fine weather and long evenings… well, nearly.

One highlight was a brilliant day trip to Glenforsa for its fly-in at the end of May. A tremendous day of pretty stable weather meant the 700nm round trip was free of those niggling doubts of ‘will the weather let me down later’, though there was a fairly stiff, but steady, crosswind at the destination. My aeroplane-building buddy Steve and I took our Van’s RV-8. It was a bit of a landmark trip for us both. While the aircraft had received its full Permit back in August 2019, due to various factors including the pandemic, plus a chunk of time removing, rebuilding and re-installing the engine to satisfy an AD to replace the 50-hour old crankshaft, we hadn’t got around to making a long trip in the aircraft together.

And it didn’t disappoint… proving to be an incredible travelling machine. A little over two hours to make the trip north to Oban to pick up fuel, then a short flight over to Glenforsa. The location certainly is one of the most stunning places in the UK to hold a fly-in, and there were many visitors, including a wide array of homebuilts. The highlight for me was seeing the young guys from Sleap arrive in their Taylor Monoplanes. An epic multi-day trip, proving that lots of fun can be had for very low cost. Expect to see more from them in these pages in future…

Heading home, we went non-stop and thanks to 10kt of tailwind, were back at Wadswick in Wiltshire in two hours.

One other event that I had really been looking forward to, and that was Farway

Common’s combined official re-opening, and the Devon Strut fly-in. The weather though, had other thoughts, delivering low cloud and high winds after a week of almost perfect conditions. Consequently, the pilots at our strip decided we will make a trip there together some other time to make up for it.

When the longest day rolled around, I clocked off from finishing off this issue to go and fly the RV-3. The day had been perfect for flying, although a bit warm, but by 8pm it was perfectly cool and still. While a Cub would have been the perfect flying partner for the evening, without one of those, the little RV was an ideal alternative. Cruising around, I amused myself with 360° orbits to catch my wake, and a few rolls. As the sun set, the aeroplane practically flew itself down the approach. As I pulled the power to idle, the feeling of the wheels running through the grass as it settled to the ground couldn’t help but put a grin on my face… ed.hicks@laa.uk.com

Features

12 PROJECT NEWS

Waterbird replica flies, Tiger Moth restoration and an eVTOL…

16 TECHNICAL

IFR/Night approval for Permit aircraft came in six years ago. Peter Bentley has the advice you need if you’re planning your own application…

24 FLYING ADVENTURE

Stymied by strict Covid restrictions, LAA pilots and aircraft finally made it to Scotland for the LAA tour…

28 COACHING CORNER

David Cockburn thinks it pays to add to your engineering knowledge…

30 ENGINEERING MATTERS

Engine mount maintenance, propeller bolts and correct torque values, Permit to fly revalidation applications

34 SPECIAL FEATURE

Retiring LAA Engineering Chief Inspector, Ken Craigie, looks back on over 30 years with the Association

40 FINANCIAL UPDATE

Steve Slater summarises the LAA’s financial performance for 2021

45 MEET THE MEMBERS

Tamara Leitan chases aerial sunsets and her aviation dreams

51 TESTED

Having installed the Oblo, Graham Smith configures and flies this new autopilot

Save the date –LAA AGM Sunday 23 October 2022

The AGM is traditionally held on the third Sunday of October each year. This year, we will host the meeting at LAA HQ, Turweston, making use of our training facilities both for the meeting and a guest speaker, as well as our traditional LAA Service Awards presentation. We will also have a hybrid meeting capability, using Zoom, allowing members to participate and vote, even if they are unable to attend in person.

Once the formalities are complete we will allocate time to a Member Forum to allow as many members as possible to quiz Board members and LAA staff, and to discuss some proposals for the future. Notices of Motion of any kind for the AGM must be received at LAA HQ no later than Sunday, 4 September 2022. Further AGM updates will be published in subsequent issues of Light Aviation

LAA Members are welcome to fly to Turweston, normal PPR procedures apply. Any aircraft pre-booked as attending for the AGM will have their landing fees covered by the LAA. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments please get in touch with us, via office@laa.uk.com.