SUMMER 2024
The Patrician
The Victoria Flying Club ~ Aviation Excellence Since 1946
AVIONICS UPGRADES
ALSO INSIDE: THE PROFESSIONAL PILOT: THREAT & ERROR MANAGEMENT THE DAKOTA CAFE AND MORE!
The Patrician
“T
(Victoria
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT Don Devenney
VICE
SECRETARY Glen Rippon
TREASURER Cal Mjolsnes
DIRECTORS Angie Johnson
Mike Vossen
Graham Palmer
Laurie Ingalls
GENERAL MANAGER
Mike Schlievert
Do you want other pilots to fly with, split flight cost, share knowledge, or get help getting to a new airport for the first time? Find potential mentors and their resumes posted on the Mentors bulletin board beside the Dispatch counter. Contact details are on each mentor's resume or you can email mentors@ flyvfc.com for more information.
NEWS Around the Club
FROM THE EDITOR:
Welcome to our end-of-summer issue! Skies are clear at the Victoria Flying Club, and as the summer winds down we wish you all pleasant flights and safe landings. This month the VFC is happy to announce that we're getting new avionics updates to the fleet (see page 5) and we're once again treated to the wisdom of David Gagliardi as he discusses threat and error management in his regular column (page 16)!
As always, thanks for reading and see you next issue! —Kelly, Editor of the Patrician
SOCIAL SATURDAYS
If you haven't been attending our Social Saturdays, you're missing out. Barring holiday weekends, the first Saturday of every month is the place for club fun and aviation-based socializing at the VFC! The event usually begins between 9 and 9:30 AM, and always offers free coffee, free donuts, and something interesting or valuable to attendees. Let's put the "club" back in the Victoria Flying Club!
UPCOMING ISSUES
We're looking for more help around the Patrician! Do you have photos, articles, or anything else that you want to share with our membership? Contact us ASAP! Reach out to vfcpatrician@gmail.com and we'll be happy to work with you to create a memorable article for an upcoming issue.
EVENTS & HOLIDAYS
SEPT 17-19 SWIFT CONFERENCE & EXPO
SEPT 29 VFC ANNUAL TOY RUN
SEPT 30NATIONAL DAY FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
OCT 5 SOCIAL SATURDAY AT THE VFC
OCT 14 THANKSGIVING
OCT 31 HALLOWEEN
NOV 2 SOCIAL SATURDAY AT THE VFC
NOV 3 DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS
NOV 11 REMEMBRANCE DAY
Know of an aviation-related event that's not listed? Let us know at vfcpatrician@gmail.com!
“If you don't trust the pilot, don't go.” -Denzel Washington
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR THE VFC TOY RUN ON SEPT. 29TH
Attention VFC Members! We need some volunteers to help out at our annual VFC Toy Run on September 29th from 10:00 to 14:00!
Volunteers will help set up a perimeter fence and monitor the barrier to prevent folks from wandering into the taxiway.
Interested in helping out? Contact Marcel or email marcelpoland@flyvfc.com!
NEWS Around the Club
HAWAII MARS LANDS AT THE BC AVIATION MUSEUM
In case you somehow missed the news, the legendary Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber took its final flight on Sunday, August 11th, bringing a close to its 50 years of fire fighting service.
The bomber was lovingly cared for by Coulson Aviation since its retirement, and will now hold a place of honour as a permanent exhibit in the BC Aviation Museum in North Saanich.
Thousands gathered to watch its final flight. Piloted by Peter Killin and Rick Matthews, the craft's last flight took it from Comox to Nanaimo's coast and then to rendezvous with the Canadian Forces Snowbirds at Croften. From there, nine Snowbirds escorted the Mars to Patricia Bay, where it was greeted with the awe and admiration of the attendees.
The craft, which is one of two remaining in the world, is the largest water bomber
in the world, with a massive 200-foot wingspan. The Mars was capable of dropping a payload of more than 25,000 litres of water per run. It's impossible to estimate how much of Canada was safeguarded by the Mars' decades of stalwart service.
“The Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber is a proud symbol of B.C.’s ingenuity and innovation, representing cutting-edge technology in aviation firefighting of its time,” said Lana Popham, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. “We recognize the value the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber holds for many people and have heard their desire to have it housed in the British Columbia Aviation Museum, where it can be displayed and protected as an important piece of our province’s history.”
You can visit the Mars at the BC Aviation Museum, or learn more about the museum by visiting: https://bcam.net/
Photo by Coulson Aviation and used courtesy of gov.bc)
ANNOUNCING NEW AVIONICS UPGRADES
The Victoria Flying Club has some exciting news!
Over the next 8-12 months, 3 of our aircraft will be getting full avionics upgrades! We’re in the process of refitting the first of these, C-GTEX, at the moment. When finished, these aircraft will have a full suite of Garmin avionics. While we are going to be keeping a few analogue gauges, the majority will be upgraded to digital.
The center of the panel will be taken up by a main 10.6” Garmin G3x panel with EIS. On the right will be the analogue airspeed indicator, altimeter, and OBS head. The tachometer will remain in the same place next to the yoke.
Engine instrumentation will be transferred to the G3x.
On the left of the G3x will be a Garmin G5, and below that an analogue turn coordinator. The chronometer will be moved lower on the panel, on the opposite side of the yoke from the tach.
The G5 is a full backup system and has a battery backup. By default, it shows the attitude indicator as the main focus, but also displays airspeed on the left and altitude on the right. It will also show vertical speed, and slip/skid.
The center stack will also be revamped!
The audio panel will be upgraded to a Garmin GMA345, and below that will be a GNX375 touchscreen WAAS GPS with ADS-B. Further down will be a GTR205 for COMM1, with COMM2 remaining a Bendix King KX155.
If you’ve flown BMO in the past while, you’re probably familiar with the GNC355 we have in there. The GNX375 is very similar but replaces the comm in that system with the transponder.
The GMA345 audio panel is a thoroughly modern audio panel with full Bluetooth integration, and even includes a USB port for charging phones or tablets!
The Garmin website offers full manuals on all of these systems if you’re looking to do some advance reading so that you’re all ready to go! Dispatch will also have a copy of these manuals if you’d like to do some studying at the Club.
GROUND SCHOOL SCHEDULE
PRIVATE PILOT LICENCE GROUND SCHOOL
PPL #24-12: NOV 03/2024 TO FEB 02/2025
Sundays (09:00 - 16:00)
PPL #24-08: AUG 4/2024 TO OCT 27/2025
Sundays (09:00 - 16:00)
COMMERCIAL PILOT LICENCE GROUND SCHOOL
CPL: OCT 5/2024 TO FEB 08/2024
Saturdays (09:00 - 16:00) with Instructor Ken Kosvik, Ben Holden, Neil Keating
MOUNTAIN AWARENESS TRAINING GROUND SCHOOL
MTA #24-XX DATES AS REQUIRED OR REQUESTED.
Individual scheduling requests are available for Private Pilot Licence, Commercial Pilot Licence, Mountain Awareness Training (MTA), Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (Drone) Courses (RPAS) by request.
Individual tutoring is also available for PPL and CPL upon request.
Confirm your attendance by contacting: Neil Keating: (204) 291-9667
VFC CHARTER SERVICE
VFC Charter offers inexpensive, on-demand, and direct transportation to places not serviced by other commercial carriers in the lower BC area. The charter service is operational in day VFR conditions. Contact us for more information on destinations and costs or to book a flight at:
Interested in prime paved parking spaces for your aircraft? Good News: there are spots available!
Secure, pull-in/pull-out, easy access. Call Dispatch at 250-656-2833 to arrange a spot or to get on the waitlist for hangar spaces!
FIRST SOLOS
"Without disruption of air traffic, these fearless, forthright, indomitable and courageous individuals did venture into the wild blue yonder in flying machines.
Furthermore, these skillful individuals did safely land said flying machines at Victoria International Airport, incurring no significant damage to self or machine, thus completing first solo flights."
Mateos Hayes
Jack Jones
Shelby Wilson
Mickey Armstrong
Alex Mackenzie
Robert Innes
First Solo: Shelby Wilson Instructor Anthony Bocquentin
MEMBER ACHIEVEMENTS
PPL WRITTEN TEST
Kevin Cherry
Carter Cochrane
Evelyn Ridsdale
Luke Callan
Jordan Edwards
PPL FLIGHT TEST
Ned Taylor
Nathanial Limpus
Gene Fedderly
Martin Byers
Carter Cochrane
Gentoku Takahashi
Cordell Robertson
Mathew MacKenzie
Luke Callan
Darius Isganaitis
Viktor Melnykov
PPL FLIGHT TEST
Mark Miele
Matthew Stratton
Steve Neil
Kevin Cherry
Kerem Akbas
Evan Arnold
Lennox Weber
Evelyn Ridsdale
CPL FLIGHT TEST
Katrina McGie
Vedant Patil
Jeff Wesa
MULT-ENGINE RATING
Forest Kruus
Sean Morris
Russell Graham
GROUP 1 INSTRUMENT RATING-IFR
Keiichiro Komiya
GROUP 1-IFR
Matthew Salmon
IFR WRITTEN EXAM
Adam Sakuma
CLASS 3
INSTRUCTOR RATING
Forest Kruus
CLASS 4
INSTRUCTOR RATING
Zack Hancock
WELCOME NEW VFC MEMBERS
Ji Hyung Moon
Luc Levasseur
Anwar Abouhamra
Trevor Brossel
Vinko Poldrugovac
Harjot Singh
Chase Bidney
Matthew Browning
Lee Fedyk
David Garza
Blair Sloane
Chapman Chen
Hugo Bandringa
Jonas Foley
Bhagpreet Kaur
Paul Cortens
Kyle Hobbs
Kanaru Takaoka
Yanhe (Jack) Yang
Jonathan Redmond
Eric Bain
Ernest Appiah
Wayne Farey
Jeehun Jeong
Janis Almond
Wesley Murray
Quinn Ngawati
Nithya Aithal
Adam Smith
Alexander Kingston
Yuki Hayashi
John Rolston
Sydney Porter
Madhav Kapur
Spencer Smith
Christian Mitchell
Marcus Rolle
Wolfgang Fischer
Kieran Porter
THE DAKOTA CAFE IS NOW OPEN IN THE EVENINGS!
Late evening hunger after a late evening flight?
Come into the Dakota Cafe from Tuesday to Saturday until 9 PM and refuel with delicious offerings like Redeye Ribs, Maverick Mac & Cheese, and a whole lot more!
Located inside of the Victoria Flying Club, the Dakota Cafe is waiting to clear your taste buds for takeoff. At the Dakota Cafe, friendliness and great food are their passion. The finest dishes are crafted from the finest ingredients. Come and visit: your taste buds with thank you!
THE DAKOTA CAFE
One of the best kept secrets in YYJ
A ROOM WITH A VIEW AND AIRPLANES TOO!
If you haven't had the pleasure of eating at the Dakota Cafe, you're in for a real treat. Located inside of the Victoria Flying Club, the Dakota strives to provide rustic charm with modern flavors for aviators and visitors alike. They provide a unique dining experience that blends classic comfort food with original, contemporary faire — and where else could you find such amazing views of planes while you eat?
The Dakota's menu features a carefully curated selection of locally sourced, seasonal produce and premium proteins, all prepared with a creative twist.
Whether your looking to carb up before the first flight of the day or looking to fill an empty belly after a day in the air, you can find everything from a hearty breakfast to a light lunch or a sumptuous dinner, all crafted to satisfy both your palate and your soul.
The cozy atmosphere and friendly, attentive staff exemplifies the Dakota's commitment to a wonderful dining experience that will make you feel right at home.
Whether you're a regular or a first-time visitor, you owe it to yourself to swing in and enjoy a meal at this hidden gem.
THE
PROFESSIONAL
PILOT
by David Gagliardi
by David Gagliardi
“‘Professionalism’ is commonly understood as an individual’s adherence to a set of standards, code of conduct or collection of qualities that characterize accepted practice within a particular area of activity.” -Universities UK et al. 2004
THREAT AND ERROR MANAGEMENT
Professional pilots embody the attributes in the definition above. Being a professional pilot has nothing to do with what license you hold it is ultimately about the attitude with which you approach flying. This article is the ninth in a series that will examine aspects of piloting light aircraft to a professional standard. In today’s article I want to discuss Threat and Error Management (TEM) and how those principals can be applied in a practical way when flying light aircraft.
About 40 years ago airlines and regulators started looking at increasing flight safety using a scientific evidencebased approach. Early efforts were reactive in that they used accident case studies to identify the factors that caused the crash and recommend procedural, technological, or regulatory changes to prevent similar accidents. This reactive approach to flight safety has been superseded by the desire to be more proactive and by the acknowledgement
that eliminating all piloting mistakes was futile as humans will always make mistakes. Therefore, the emphasis now is to help pilots proactively identify hazards before they reduce flight safety and when mistakes are made to effectively mitigate the consequences of the at mistake. This process is called Threat and Error Management.
First, some definitions: Threats — generally defined as events or errors that occur beyond the influence of the Pilot, increase operational complexity and which must be managed to maintain the margins of safety. During typical flight operations, flight crews have to manage various contextual complexities. Such complexities would include, for example, dealing with adverse meteorological conditions, flight in mountainous terrain, congested airspace, aircraft malfunctions, errors committed by other people outside of the cockpit, such as air traffic controllers, or maintenance workers, and so forth. The
TEM model considers these complexities as threats because they all have the potential to negatively affect flight operations by reducing margins of safety.
Anticipated Threats
Some threats can be anticipated since they are expected or known to the pilot. For example, pilots can anticipate the consequences of a strong crosswind in the circuit toward the runway by planning to adjust the their downwind, and base legs so they don’t overshoot the turn to final, or they can prepare for a congested airport by early monitoring of the airport/ aerodrome frequency before they join the circuit
Unexpected Threats
Some threats can occur unexpectedly, such as an in-flight aircraft malfunction that happens suddenly and without warning. In this case, pilots must apply skills and knowledge acquired through training and operational experience.
Latent Threats
Lastly, some threats may not be directly obvious to or observable by pilots in the operational context and may need to be uncovered by safety analysis. These are considered latent threats. Examples of latent threats include equipment design issues or promulgation of incorrect or inadequate procedures.
Errors
Generally defined as actions or inactions by the Pilot that lead to deviations from organizational or operational intentions or expectations. Unmanaged and/or mismanaged errors frequently lead to undesired states. Errors in the operational context thus tend to reduce the margins of safety and increase the probability of an undesirable event.
Undesired States
Generally defined as operational conditions where an unintended situation results in a reduction in margins of safety. Undesired states
that result from ineffective threat and/ or error management may lead to compromised situations and reduce margins of safety aviation operations. This is often considered the last stage before an incident or accident. Some examples of undesired states are a failure to appreciate changes in flight conditions (e.g. reduction in flight visibility), a high and fast approach, an incorrect flap setting, a missed checklist item, incorrectly calculated weight and balance, and so forth
So how can a light aircraft pilot apply these principals? Let’s start with a local flight where you are taking your friends for a tour of Victoria on a nice sunny
Saturday summer afternoon. Your initial reaction is probably going to be this is easy as there can’t be any real threats and with the benign conditions the chance of an error is low. Yes, but I would suggest the TEM principals can still be applied.
Threats
• The airplane will be full of people so fuel will have to managed. Yes, fleet Captain will give you a preliminary weight and balance report but because you know you are going to be near gross weight you will plan to redo the weight and balance after you have dipped he tanks. You also need accurate passenger weights so a quick individual private conversation will make it more likely you will get accurate weights, this mitigating the threat of taking off over gross.
• The ramp is likely to be busy on a sunny Saturday so you will take extra care to ensure that the prop is clear prior to start and the initial taxi on the ramp is unobstructed.
• With 09 in use, you will have to cross 2 runways thus increasing the threat of a runway incursion. Reading back the full taxi clearance even if it doesn’t have a hold short restriction will mitigate the risk of a misunderstood clearance. If there is a hold short clearance writing it on your knee board will reinforce it in your mind making it less likely you will forget.
• There is a lot of airline traffic at Victoria so if you are cleared for takeoff after an airliner, you will have a plan to avoid the potential for wake turbulence,
this may involve telling tower you need a delay before you can takeoff.
• The airplane will be heavy and it is hot therefore performance will be less than you are used to particularly if your recent flying has been with 1 or 2 people and half tanks. You will make sure to not rotate early and establish a safe speed before climbing out of ground effect.
• When you are in the air the frequency is likely to be busy so it is important your passengers know they must not interrupt a transmission by talking on the intercom
• When flying over the city there will be a reduction of possible landing sites in the event of an engine failure. Extra vigilance to proactively identify potential landing spots and flight path adjustments to maximum the possible landing sites will reduce this theat.
• On the return to the airport on a busy day you are likely to have to fly a nonstandard close in or extended circuit and/or follow an airliner on approach with the inevitable hazard of wake turbulence therefore you will be especially attentive to any developing undesired aircraft states.
• Finally you will have the same busy crowded ramp to deal with when you taxi in.
Written out this way the threats may seem a bit over the top but taking a few moments to think about potential threats for any flight means you are more likely to avoid errors that reduce flight safety and must be mitigated.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published in the February 2021 issue of the Patrician.
There are many remarkable pictures and documents lining the halls of VFC. One of them is a thank you letter, written by Canadian Astronaut Bob Thirsk (just outside the RedBird simulator room). What's his connection to VFC? Read on and find out!
AL U MNI STORIES
Robert Thirsk, OC, OB C
Twitter: @RobertThir sk
Flying about Superman-style.
Itook a break from astronaut training several years ago to spend a sabbatical year in Victoria. While there, I joined the Victoria Flying Club as a member to upgrade my flying skills. My pre-astronaut professions were engineering
and medicine; not aviation. Nevertheless, flight training is an essential part of every astronaut’s development – no matter what was our prior background. I therefore used my time in Victoria to broaden my private pilot experience. Practice makes perfect!
The operation of aircraft and spacecraft share much in common. A pilot in the sky or in space must be able to multi-task and to deal with the data streams from several systems. No system - propulsion; Superman-style.
guidance, navigation and control; electrical power; communications and others - operates independently. Each interacts with others. To properly interpret flight data, pilots aboard aircraft and spacecraft alike must be aware of this interconnection and interdependence.
My Victoria Flying Club instructors worked with me to not only hone my flying skills but also to instill a
situationally aware mindset. The aviation and space environments can both be unforgiving and, during flight, we may have only one chance to perform a task correctly. Pilots need to prepare for failures by continuously monitoring for potential malfunctions and contingencies. When a contingency does arise, we should’ve already anticipated its impact and our immediate reactions. We need to get it
right the first time. Vigilance and operational precision are critical skills.
My year of flying with VFC was also enjoyable. I made good use of the Club’s fleet of C-172s and 182s to explore up and down the west coast. My father, who has now passed away, often joined me on my crosscountry trips. He enjoyed helping me with navigation duties. I fondly recall some of our flights together to
Vancouver
Island, the Salish Sea, and the Straits of Juan de Fuca in sun glint.
Powell River (where I visited with the current teachers and students of my former elementary school), Tofino and Astoria. We also had opportunities to view remote wilderness areas from above such as the Carmanah Valley. Astonishingly beautiful!
The pacific northwest is equally impressive from higher altitudes. Having now flown on two space missions, I can say that there is no other region of the
world quite like it. Viewed through a spacecraft window, the approach from the Pacific Ocean to the British Columbia coast is unique and unmistakable. No other region of the world features the same blue hues of the coastal waterways and fjords, the mountains and dark green rainforests, and the network of mighty glaciers that slowly flow downhill to the ocean. These are a few of the fond memories from my time with
the Victoria Flying Club. It was a great year and I am grateful to the instructors for making me a better pilot. Best wishes to the Club on its upcoming 75th anniversary. May you continue to foster the love of flying and serve your club members for many more decades.
Robert Thirsk
Blog: http://robertthirsk.ca Twitter: @RobertThirsk
The Heiltskuk Icefield of the southern coast mountains carves out wide valleys. Note how accumulations of rock and soil debris entrained by the flowing ice are drawn out into long, dark lines.
THANKS FOR THE SHARE!
SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO TAGGED US ON INSTAGRAM!
From top, left to right: @bcaviationmuseum: "@nickel_bros have almost completed the disassembly of the trailer and placement of Hawaii Mars"; @imaginativesci: "Flew a plane @victoriaflyingclub. S/O to videographer @itsjillianwilkes who captured some incredible footage"; chipmkrbren.avp: "cafairbasearizona B25 “Maid in the Shade” resting under the stars"; @pilot_aaronbc: "When the boss says he’s got this flight, why not take photos of the plane you’ll be flying all summer!"; @ suborbitalbens: "We have a new member to the Stewart family flying club. I can't wait to plan some new adventures with the wifey.; @flyboy_dane: "Little bit of Aurora climbing out of YVR Vancouver" // Thanks for the share!
