The Patrician JULY 2020
The Victoria Flying Club ~ Aviation Excellence Since 1946
Read about: Vancouver Airspace Modernization and VFC Landing on Contaminated Runways
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The Patrician
HANGAR SPACE
“To promote flying and aviation in general, and to teach and train persons in the art and science of flying and navigating and operating all manner of heavier-than-air aircraft.” (Victoria Flying Club Incorporation Bylaws, 1946)
Contact Marcel at the Club to see if a hangar spot is a good spot for your plane and to get on the waitlist.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRESIDENT Colin Williamson VICE PRESIDENT Don Devenney SECRETARY Jennifer Zadorozniak TREASURER DIRECTORS Iain Barnes John Ainsworth GENERAL MANAGER Greg Matte CHIEF FLYING Mike Schlievert INSTRUCTOR
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News Around the Club
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Vancouver Airspace Modernization & VFC Flight Training Contributed by Greg Matte, GM
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Anecdotes from an Aging Aviator Contributed by Stephen Klubi
CONTACT 1852 Canso Road Sidney, BC V8L 5V5
www.flyvfc.com info@flyvfc.com
P: 250-656-2833 F: 250-655-0910
PARKING Editor: Katy Earl flyvfcmarketing@gmail.com The Patrician accepts unsolicited submissions. This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, with prior permission of the publisher or author. The opinions expressed are strictly those of the authors.
SUBSCRIPTIONS flyvfcmarketing@gmail.com http://flyvfc.com/subscribe-to-the-patrician
Several parking spaces are available! If you’re interested in prime paved parking spaces for your aircraft, we want to hear from you! Secure, pull-in/pull-out, easy access. Please call Dispatch to arrange a spot, or to see if your plane might fit a hangar spaces at 250-656-2833
PHOTO CREDITS Front cover photo: Credit: Patrick Hamilton, June 17. An Ilyushin-76TD-90VD passed by the Club.
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VFC | Aviation Excellence Since 1946
News Around the Club
SEP 9
Victoria Flying Club AGM
Is your aviation-related event not listed? Let us know at flyvfcmarketing@gmail.com
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The AGM will be held on the evening of Wednesday, 09 September (delayed due to COVID-19) with more details to follow as to where and how the meeting will be conducted.
CONGRATS TO NAVYA POTTUMUTU
Last year we were thrilled to see Belmont High School and VFC student Navya earn the Flying Musician Solo Program Award (from the Flying Musicians Association
NEWS and EVENTS
NEWS and EVENTS
out of Texas). This year, she continued to turn heads when she received a BOSE A20 headset from the FMA for being the most outstanding recipient in 2019 of the FMA Solo Program Award. We are so glad to see her dedication towards her goals be recognized and help propel her forward.
ONGOING CHANGES AT CLUB DUE TO COVID-19 The following is an update on the current and temporary arrangements at the Club. You can also look for the Interim Policies linked to on our website in the COVID-19 Update box: 1. Daily open hours 08:00-20:00, with selfdispatch after hours (on a pre-arranged basis). 2. All PPL and School District 61 ground school has been suspended until further notice. 3. Limited flight training has resumed. 4. Masks are now required when training. 5. Redbird simulator training has been resumed. 6. Dual multi-engine/IFR training is slowly resuming. 7. AMO maintenance operations are ongoing. 8. Recreational rentals are ongoing. 9. Solo advanced training / rentals on the Cessnas (i.e. to build CPL hours) continues. 10. Support to VFC members (parking, towing, refueling, etc.) continues. 11. Take-out services with the Dakota CafÊ restaurant continues (Mon–Fri, 08:00-16:00, SatSun 08:00-14:30) and the restaurant and patio (limited seating) is open. (continued on next page)
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BYOH - BRING YOUR OWN HEADSET
In order to keep up a high level of sanitation, we are encouraging people to bring their own headsets when renting aircraft. For those unable to do so, there will be a very minor charge ($3) when renting headsets to help cover the cost of cleaning the headset, as of June 1st.
NEWS and EVENTS
NEW AVIATION BOOK FROM LOCAL AUTHOR
Local aviator and author George Plawski has recently had his book published, "Never a Dull Moment : A Memoir of Canadian Naval Aviation, Firebombing and Theatre". George tells of his experiences flying off the aircraft carrier, HMCS Bonaventure, followed by a career as an air tanker pilot in Canada and California. Plawski’s book is unique in introducing the reader to an in-depth, firsthand look at the special skills involved in flying in two demanding environments, but much of the enjoyment of this read comes from its compelling linguistic flair and the author’s always humorous approach to his subject. A must-read for aviation enthusiasts!
Flying Musicians Association Two Passions, One Goal Bringing Aviation and Music Together
In 2015 the Flying Musicians Association created a program whereby music directors nominate for a scholarship a junior or senior high school music student who excels and has a desire to fly. Although based out of Texas, they accept international applications. https://fmasolo.org/ http://flyingmusicians.org
If you would like a hand publicizing your event, send it to flyvfcmarketing@gmail.com for a chance to have your news or story published in The Patrician. George Plawski was born in Gdynia, Poland, in 1934. His father, Eugene, was a senior naval officer who fought in both World Wars in the capacities of pilot, and as the commander of surface ships as well as submarines. Before the war, he lived with his wife Maria in Warsaw.
In a series of humorously recalled anecdotes, the author portrays the process leading to his commission in the Royal Canadian Navy, to obtaining his wings, and to becoming a pilot flying off the aircraft carrier, HMCS Bonaventure.
After leaving the service in 1964, Plawski returned to UBC to finish his BA, then completed three years of post-graduate studies in theatre, specialising in directing, which was funded by his summer job flying air tankers on forest fires. The book continues with suspenseful accounts of Plawski’s founding of Vancouver’s City Stage, the thrilling saga of the often hair-raising pioneering days of firebombing in California and in Canada, and of the hilarious aerial circus of budworm spraying in New Brunswick.
OFcultured This story is embellished with a telling of his meeting withAa MEMOIR beautiful and CANADIAN NAVAL AVIATION, girl from Paris whose name is Rita; of their unconventional romance, their FIREBOMBING AND THEATREP travels around the world, of her loving and essential collaboration in the author’s idiosyncratic lifestyle, and of their eventual marriage which is happily doomed to continue to the end of this grand adventure.
NEVER A DULL MOMENT
NEVER A DULL MOMENT
This colorful memoir traces the family’s unusual history, and recalls the severe hardships which faced his parents in starting their lives anew in this beautiful and free, yet in the in the immediate post-war years, a thoroughly challenging land.
A MEMOIR OF CANADIAN NAVAL AVIATION, FIREBOMBING AND THEATRE
Never a Dull Moment lives up to its title as George takes us back to his youth under the Nazis in WW2, describes his and his mother’s separate escapes from Communist occupied Poland to join his father who spent theE. warPLAWSKI years in the GEORGE Polish Navy in England, and their subsequent immigration to Canada in 1948.
G. E. PLAWSKI
GEORGE E. PLAWSKI
NEVER A DULL MOMENT
ISBN 9781525560859
90000 >
A MEMOIR OF CANADIAN NAVAL AVIATION, FIREBOMBING AND THEATRE
9 781525 560859
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VFC | Aviation Excellence Since 1946
Photo credit: Alan Kane
NEWS and EVENTS
VFC CHARTER SERVICE Be there in minutes!
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. Please contact us for more information on destinations and costs.
For more information or to book a flight Email: tedk@flyvfc.com Call: 1-778-350-3213
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Vancouver Airspace Modernization & VFC Flight Training
GM Corner
VFC Manager BGen (Ret’d) Gregory C.P. Matte, CD, PhD
The Vancouver Airspace Modernization Project (VAMP) is an ongoing initiative that seeks to deploy current airspace design methodologies to sustain the safety operations across the Greater Vancouver Region and Southern Vancouver Island in anticipation of industry growth. While the ongoing "town hall" meeting process with stakeholders (commercial air, recreational flyers, Flight Training Units, airport authorities and community officials) will continue into the fall of 2020, Nav Canada will likely seek to implement changes to the affected airspace in early 2021. The impetus for seeking to "modernize" the airspace, which includes the flight training area for the VFC in the Cowichan Valley (CYA 118), is based on increased air traffic. In the period between 2013 and 2018, air traffic movements in the region grew by a total of 16 per cent, including an 18 per cent increase in IFR operations and a 10 per cent increase in VFR operations. This represents an increase of more than 100,000 flights across the region per annum. The VFC has been actively involved in these meetings, but we are increasingly concerned that the outcome may be to further restrict our limited available flight training airspace. It appears that Nav Canada’s over-riding focus is on achieving greater control over air traffic. Such increased control appears to be sought through the increased expansion of controlled airspace. While this approach could increase safety through greater
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control over air traffic, it appears that the application of greater controlled airspace is pursued to the benefit of commercial air traffic. Such increased control allows for efficient arrival and departure procedures, with minimal disruption in planned flight profiles (to accommodate VFR traffic), thereby increasing fuel efficiencies (improved profit margins) as well as airfield movements (throughput of passengers and cargo). While the encroachment of an expansion of controlled airspace would seem to be a logical strategy, it negatively impacts some of the stakeholders, particularly the flight training units (FTUs) such as the VFC. The problem is that such encroachment further reduces the available airspace for training, while also increasing the cost of such training for the students due to greater time spent in transiting to/ from the training area. Instead of encroachment, the VFC is arguing in favour of airspace redistribution. Airspace redistribution is a process of collaboration in which a winwin outcome is sought. For the VFC, what is being sought is at least one (perhaps two) reasonably sized Class G training areas that would allow for safe and effective training. This in turn would not only require a reasonable lateral assignment of airspace to permit two or more aircraft to train in a given area concurrently, but also the necessary vertical airspace to allow for the safe practice of essential maneuvers including
slow flight, stalls, and spins. The provision of VFR corridors, that do not require penetration into controlled airspace, would facilitate efficient transit to/from the training area(s), while accommodating inexperienced pilots under training. Airspace redistribution that accommodates such needs for the VFC could be exchanged for the provision of changes in controlled airspace that accommodates the requests of commercial air traffic into and out of both Victoria International Airport (CYYJ), as well as Nanaimo Regional Airport (CYCD). Such airspace redistribution is in recognition of domestic and international macro-economic realities. Despite the current lull in demand for commercial air travel, there is every likelihood that the demand will return to previous levels within the next six to eighteen months. Commensurate with this assumption is the previous projections for significant shortages in commercial pilots. Industry estimates that Canada will need 7,300 new commercial pilots by 2025, but will fall 3,000 short of that mark. Worldwide, estimates are that the global demand for new pilots will hit 255,000 by 2027, with the majority yet to start the long process of training and logging flying hours. A shortage of pilots will not only potentially limit further growth in commercial air traffic, it will also inevitably lead to increased costs incurred by the airlines as
VFC | Aviation Excellence Since 1946
FTUs in terms of Canada’s national interests: That the Government of Canada— in co-operation with relevant stakeholders…develop policies to support and encourage the growth of Canada’s flight training industry. This same report identified the need to support FTUs like the VFC in order to ensure a future domestic supply of Canadian pilots to meet the projected shortfalls. The committee also stressed the vital role of commercial aviation in Canada, not only for leisure travel,
but more importantly, as a critical air bridge to supply Canadians living in isolated locations in the north and certain coastal communities. The VFC has previously witnessed encroachment of controlled airspace, such as the introduction of the terminal control airspace extension to the north west of CYYJ’s PCZ. This extension had the restrictive consequence of introducing a ceiling of 3500’ MSL for VFR transits to/ from CYA 118; a ceiling that extends well into CYA 118 further restricting the limited available vertical airspace. A further negative consequence of such encroachment has been the requirement for the VFC to conduct its training at lower altitudes, which has lead to a rise in noise complaints in the Cowichan area. VAMP modernization considerations impacting CYA 118 relate to demands by commercial air for increased protected (controlled) airspace for arrivals to runway 34 and departures from runway 16 at CYCD.
GM Corner
they compete for a limited pool of pilots. Such competition will be felt by passengers through hikes in ticket prices that will be driven by the increased wages and benefits that will be offered to pilots. The near term savings in fuel efficiencies through increased encroachment of controlled airspace to facilitate arrivals and departures will be far outweighed by the increased costs related to escalations in salaries and benefits in the competition to attract pilots. This led to the first of many recommendations by the Federal Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities that emphasized the critical role of
The way forward proposed by the VFC has been to seek a fair, balanced and transparent approach that enables a redistribution of airspace in a collaborative manner. This would require an adjustment to the boundaries of CYA 118, including an increase in the ceiling, as well as the provision of VFR corridors that provide students with easy access to/from our preferred flight training areas without the requirement to deal with terminal controllers. As the VAMP process and “town hall” meetings continue through the summer and fall, we’ll continue to advance this position so as to protect the interests of our VFC students and members.
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Anecdotes From an Aging Aviator Feature Article
Contributed by Captain (Ret'd) Stephen Klubi Cathay Pacific Airways Editor's note: Many thanks to VFC alumnus (1973) Stephen Klubi for sharing his expertise after decades in the civil, military, and commercial aviation space.
Landing on a Contaminated Runway Dawn was starting to break on this particular winter morning as we descended into the Pembroke Airport, a small, uncontrolled airfield with a short 4000 foot runway west of Ottawa. I had already contacted the Regimental Emplaning Officer on the UHF Radio specifically to enquire about the runway condition. All of us in the cockpit were concerned about the runway status as a freezing rainstorm had recently passed through the region. I was the First Officer on the RCAF CC130 Hercules for this mission. Our tasking: to operate from our home base in Trenton, Ontario, land in Pembroke and conduct elevator lifts until the Airborne Regiment had completed sufficient parajumps to fulfill their requalification requirements. The Regiment was based at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, not far from Pembroke. Our day would consist of loading between 60-80 paratroops, take off, climb to 1200 feet AGL, transit to one of the drop zones at Petawawa, drop the troopers and then land back in Pembroke. We would do this continuously, all day, until each of them had achieved the required number of jumps. The radio message from the REO was that conditions were fine,
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come on in. The REO was normally a CC130 pilot on a two year tour attached to the regiment or a specially trained member of the Airborne Regiment who, while being primarily a Paratrooper, had received training by the Air Force and was familiar with the Hercules requirements for runway condition and length, ceiling, visibility and wind speed to safely conduct paradrop operations. We carried out the NDB approach and as the runway was reasonably short and the aircraft fairly heavy (due to several hours of fuel on board) the Captain planned the touchdown just past the threshold. Immediately after touchdown the Captain selected all four propellers to maximum reverse thrust and applied full braking. It was at that point that all of us realized that the runway condition was not “fine� but in fact was totally ice covered. I could feel the rapid cycling of the brake antiskid valves doing what they were designed to do, releasing hydraulic pressure to the brakes to prevent an impending skid from locked brakes that could eventually blow the tires. There was no braking action. The deceleration force provided by the four propellers in full reverse was quite impressive and about half way down the runway it looked to me like we may just be lucky and not slide off the end. At that point the aircraft slowly started to weathercock to the right and drift to the left of the runway centerline due to the right crosswind. The Captain very skillfully used differential reverse thrust to regain the centerline and as much reverse
thrust as he felt he could manage to continue to stop the aircraft. We came to a halt at the far end of the runway just before the nosewheel left the runway. In my last article about complacency, which appeared in the April edition of The Patrician, I wrote about a landing in Montreal during a heavy snowfall. I wanted to follow up in this article with lessons I had learned from that experience and the landing in Pembroke. You may recall, in my previous article, that my First Officer who was with me on our landing in Montreal,
Definition of a Contaminated Run
A runway is considered contaminated wh surface area within the required length a following:
Standing water: Caused by heavy rain drainage with a depth of more than 3m
Slush: Water saturated with snow, wh it.
Wet snow: If compacted by hand, sno a snowball.
Dry snow: Snow can be blown if loose apart again upon release.
Compacted snow: Snow that has been Ice: The friction coefficient is 0.05 or
VFC | Aviation Excellence Since 1946
returned to Transport Canada a few years later and was one of the members of the Engineering Team that was responsible for developing the tables found in the Airmanship section of Transport Canada’s AIM titled, ‘Canadian Runway Friction Index (CRFI) Application to Aircraft Performance.'
nway
hen more than 25% of the runway and width being used is covered by the
nfall and/or insufficient runway mm (0.125in).
hich splatters when stepping firmly on
ow will stick together and tend to form
e, or if compacted by hand, will fall
n compressed. below.
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(a) the runway surface is wet and no other type of contamination is present; (b) there is a layer of slush on the runway surface and no other type of contamination is present; (c) there is wet snow on the runway surface, or (d) there is dry snow on the runway surface exceeding 2.5 cm (1 in.) in depth To assist pilots in overcoming this limitation, the AIM Airmanship section publishes tables giving Expected Range of CRFI by Surface Type and Minimum and Maximum CRFI for Various Surfaces based on, as is written in that section, ‘a combination of analysis of extensive measurements and sound engineering judgment.’ However, the range of CRFI values found in these tables is so large that I’ve found them to be of limited value and they, once again, do not provide any information on runway surfaces that are covered with water, slush or wet snow. Unfortunately, operating in less than bare and dry runway conditions is a fact of life for pilots. As well, during periods of rapidly changing meteorological conditions, such as heavy snowfall or freezing rain, it’s almost impossible to calculate with absolute certainty the amount of landing distance that will be required. Despite this fact, it is incumbent upon the pilot to make an assessment based on rather limited, or what may turn out to be
invalid, information to determine whether it is safe to land the aircraft. So what’s a pilot to do? Here are a few of my thoughts on solving this conundrum. On my landing in Montreal, described in my last article, I wish I could recall whether we had asked for or were offered from ATC an updated runway condition report while on final approach as in hindsight, I should not have landed on that runway that night. In either case, I do know from that night onwards, I vowed never to be surprised again.
Feature Article
The information in that section of the AIM as well as the chart which provides crosswind limits for CRFI, in my opinion, was quite ground breaking when it was published and is of great use to pilots as many aircraft manufacturers provide little or no performance information for landing on contaminated runways. This is due to the extreme difficulty in quantifying the effects on the landing performance of the aircraft, due to the extreme variability of different contaminants. As well, I suspect liability may also be an issue for manufacturers. One shortcoming to using these charts as guidance in the landing situation is that the CRFI number used in
the charts are not reported in certain conditions. As stated in the AIM, "because of mechanical and operational limitations, the runway friction readings produced by the decelerometer devices may be inaccurate under certain surface conditions. As a result, runway friction readings will not be taken and a CRFI will not be provided to ATS or to pilots when any of the following conditions are present:
To prevent a reoccurrence of that event, I have always endeavored to obtain as much basic information available on the runway in use or any other potential runways. ATC can clear you an approach and landing to a parallel runway or an intersecting runway to facilitate traffic, noise abatement, a shorter taxi for you on the ground etc. I believe it is important to be very proactive at getting the most current information available for factors that will vary. Basic runway information such as elevation, length, width, slope, grooved, rubber deposits (extremely slippery when wet), lighting, approach aids, etc. are easily found in aeronautical publications or NOTAMs. The variable environmental factors such as temperature, wind (strength, direction, steady or variable, gusts), CRFI, if reported, for touchdown, mid point and roll out end of runway and contaminant (type, depth, recently cleared and when and if the runways had been treated with anti-icing or de-icing chemicals) can be obtained from METARs, ATIS, and Aircraft Movement Surface Condition Reports (AMSCR). I would be cautious in relying totally on this information as in rapidly changing conditions even a report 15 minutes old may be far different than the conditions you may experience on touchdown.
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Feature Article
If runway conditions were ever a concern I would ask, when switched over to tower during the approach, for the runway condition and reported braking action. They would have the most up to date information as they often asked landing aircraft what braking action they had experienced during the landing rollout. Braking action reports from previous aircraft are another piece of the puzzle to aid in your assessment of the runway and its suitability. Once again, be cautious of this information. Find out the aircraft type and when the report was given. If the most recent landing report, for example, was 15 minutes old by a turboprop type, that crew may not have used the brakes but instead relied on reverse thrust to decelerate the aircraft, therefore you may be led into thinking that the braking action is acceptable for your landing when in fact it may be very different. Preplanning your decisions and possible courses of action will greatly reduce your stress, minimize decision making errors and quite possibly break that chain of errors that may lead to an aircraft accident. For example, if reports for braking action are given using CRFI numbers, at the pre flight planning stage or prior to descent or at a time of low workload, calculate the minimum CRFI you require to stop the aircraft on the runway or the potential runways you may use. Calculate your holding time, know your diversion or alternate airport and your route and altitude to get there. Have that route preset in your navigation computer. Know what will be beneath you (i.e. mountainous) and the minimum altitude to get to your alternate. Be aware that if you are planning a high altitude diversion to fly
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to your alternate in order to optimize your fuel burn thereby maximizing your holding time, don’t expect that you will receive that level from ATC. Factors such as overflying traffic or other diversions could keep you stuck down at a far lower altitude than you had planned. I have read reports of crews who were forced to divert from their destination to their alternate, then were unable to obtain their expected altitude and had to declare an emergency to facilitate priority handling to avoid running out of fuel prior to landing at their alternate. Give yourself a comfort factor in all your calculations. While you are busy flying the approach is not an appropriate time to be doing these calculations. Accident reports abound showing, as a contributing factor for an accident, totally distracted crews "heads down," in the cockpit, autopilot engaged or thought to be engaged by the crew and no one flying or monitoring the aircraft. If you have pre-calculated that the minimum acceptable CRFI reading for your landing is 0.30 and tower tells you on your approach that recent readings are 0.22, you know instantly that based on your calculations and "comfort factor” that a landing in those conditions is not advisable. Options that you can then consider is to hold until the runway is cleared or treated, depending upon meteorological conditions in the hold and the anti-ice and de-ice capability of the aircraft, or diverting to your alternate airfield. At airfields that are subject to frequent and heavy snowfalls, my experience is that runways can be cleared quite quickly and tower can give a reasonable estimate of your delay should holding be an option. Having calculated your holding time, the decision now
becomes quite straightforward. By preprogramming your diversion route into the navigation computer, if you decide that a diversion to your alternate is the safest course of action, it’s simply a matter of getting a clearance from ATC, activating that route and you are on your way. By preplanning possible scenarios and knowing your decision options, you greatly assist yourself in “staying ahead of the aircraft” and freeing up your mental capacity to deal with those unexpected problems that will inevitably arise throughout the flight. As in our landing in Pembroke, you want to do your upmost to avoid using your extraordinary piloting skills to save an aircraft or prevent damage. We found out later that the REO that had passed to us the runway condition report was not from the pilot we had expected to be working with that day, but a new inexperienced non-pilot member of the Airborne Regiment. He had a vested interest in getting us to land in Pembroke so we could get on with the day’s work. In hindsight, had we asked more probing questions of the REO prior to landing or obtained an independent runway condition report from the airport owner prior to departure from Trenton, our decision to land or even operate the flight would have been different. As in everything in life, there is no substitute for experience. Once you gain the experience and confidence in knowing how your aircraft will decelerate and how it will react on different contaminants on the runways, it becomes another important facet of your operation.
VFC | Aviation Excellence Since 1946
Feature Article
Taken from https://www.bcaviation.ca/fly-out-garbage-for-avgas.html
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VFC | Aviation Excellence Since 1946
