Patriciansept08 2

Victoria Flying Club

September 2008

The Lillooet River winds past Pemberton's 3917' runway while the smaller Green River hugs the foot of the mountain ridge.

Inside

Photo Marie Woodruff

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Short Final

Letters to the Editor

Bears Air

In My Travels

To Brazil with N54CC

Aerobatics Flyout

Flight Itinerary

Eleanor’s

The

Patrician

S hort F inal

Newsletter of the Victoria Flying Club

SEPTEMBER 2008 Eleanor Eastick PatricianEditor@shaw.ca Advertising inquiries: Bob Mace (250) 361-6996 or bmace@shaw.ca Publisher: Seaside Designs seasidedesigns@shaw.ca (250) 383-7777 Published monthly.

Unsolicited articles welcome.

The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, September 24, 2008.

Board of Directors President Vice President Treasurer Secretary Directors

Paul Levie Doug Marin Lloyd Toope Colin Dormuth Eleanor Eastick Ellen Wood Sean Steele Jim Sutherland

General Manager Gerry Mants Chief Flying Instructor Graham Palmer 1852 Canso Road Victoria, BC V8L 5V5

Phone:

(250) 656-4321 (250) 656-2833 (250) 655-0910 info@flyvfc.com www.flyvfc.com

Fax: Email: Web:

Opinions expressed are those of the authors alone. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced in any format without the written authorization from the publisher or author.

dynamic communications solutions for YOUR business

250.383.7777 seasidedesigns@shaw.ca seasidedesigns.net

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SEASIDE designs & photography

Better than castles are the Canadian Snow Birds who are appearing in Victoria September 20/21 to help celebrate BC’s 150th anniversary. They will be performing off Beacon Hill Park and one of the pilots is a Victoria boy who is really looking forward to this show. All the Snow Bird displays are called Air Shows; there is not an air show at CYYJ, but the Snow Birds will perform a Victoria Air Show.

And now a little information on the aerobatic team: As with the rest of the Canadian Forces, the Snowbirds operate as a team at all times, both in the air and on the ground. Pilots and technicians work closely with one another on a daily basis in order to prepare for, and bring, thrilling and safe performances to the North American public.

Twenty-four of the squadron members comprise the show team that travels during the show season. The show team has 11 aircraft, 9 for aerobatic performances, and 2 as spares, flown by the team coordinators.

The Snowbirds fly the

Canadair CT-114 Tutor, a Canadian built jet used by the Canadian Forces as its basic pilot training aircraft until 2000. The Tutor weighs approximately 7170 lbs (3260 kgs) and is powered by a J-85 engine producing 2,700 pounds of thrust. Top speed of the aircraft, with smoke tanks attached, is 412 knots (470 mph or 750 km/h).

dss i rr d b w i o Sn wb o

Sn

Editor:

By the time you read this, I’ll be on the Rhine (in a boat) looking at castles in the air – well, not really in the air, but perched on cliffs along the famous river.

Sept 20,21 off

The basic Tutor is only slightly modified for use by Beacon Hill Park the Snowbirds. Modifications include: A smoke generating system, a unique paint scheme for added crowd appeal, and a highly tuned engine to enhance engine response in low level flying.

Flyouts At long last we got a perfect day for the BC Day flyout. It was a small group, comprised of two Club planes (MEK, PFW) and one private plane. It felt like old times when we had good weather and eager participation in every flyout.

Although I won’t be here for Labour Day, September 1st, I hope the flyout for that day will be a big success. The proposed destination is Port Hardy, and I can Short Final cont’d p. 4

Letters to the Editor No letters again this month! I know you're out there! It must be this long blast of good weather that's keeping everyone busy. Okay, you're forgiven for not writing to the Pat. We did get a letter from Scott Eichel with some exciting photos of his son Brehn's retirement from the Forces in July. As of this month, Brehn is with West Jet. We have been honoured with a number of visits from him in his F-18 over the past few years; the last one was in June at the VFC Open House Career Day. For your enjoyment, Brehn’s retirement fly past in Cold Lake, Friday the 18th of July (it was also his 37th birthday!)

"A lot of the Base personnel turned up to watch him lead a 4 ship in some formation fly pasts and an upward Bomb Burst. It was quite an impressive show as you can imagine. His final landing was an approach end arrestor cable landing which stops the jet in about 800 feet. And so suddenly it was all over."- Scott Eichel.

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Short Final cont’d from p 2 cast my mind back to Labour Day, 2003 when quite a bunch of us made the flight to YZT, had lunch and continued on around Vancouver Island. Beautiful flight!

Here’s a couple of photos from five years ago.

Blue skies! See you at the Snow Birds performance and at the VFC Open House, Saturday September 27.

Here is the explanation of the August Mystery Location

Pat Bay Highway Hey! Where is everybody? It's the Pat Bay Highway looking south on the Cordova Bay departure. Just too easy, I suppose. Now, if I'd asked you to guess the aircraft type from the bit of window and low wing seen in the photo....You would all have guessed Al Whalley's Alon 2 Air Coupe, right?

SEPTEMBER Mystery of the Month The September mystery is a "gimme!" This STOL aircraft excelled on wheels, skis and floats. It was developed in 1947 after a survey of Canada's bush pilots showed the need for a rugged, highly versatile aerial truck which could take off and land almost anywhere, carry a large load and be very reliable.

Send your educated guesses to

PatricianEditor@shaw.ca

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High Cost of Flying

W

hy is it so expensive to fly? Every aircraft owner could answer that. It used to be the cost of parts, repairs, government regulations, insurance, hangar fees and so on. Recently, it’s the price of fuel that’s on everyone’s mind.

In North America, we’re paying close to $7.00/gallon, while in European and other countries, they’re being hosed for well over twice that. Somehow, there are still planes in the air.

It’s remarkable too that small charter and training operations keep flying. The regulations forced upon these guys by Transport Canada and the FAA are enough to choke the life out of anyone. To run an air service, the operator requires permission from the government in the form of an Operating Certificate.

That “O.C.” outlines just about everything the guy needs to do from when he gets up in the morning until he goes to sleep at night, usually about 16 to 20 hours later. He’s told where and when he can fly, who he can hire, what and how to train his employees, how much he can charge, what insurance to buy, how to outfit his aircraft, and faces so many other on-going and new regulations, it would be impossible to list them all in any single document. It’s enough to make almost anyone throw up his arms and walk away from the mess.

Fortunately, there are those who have the stamina and the drive to push ahead to keep an air operation going, until he runs out of money anyway. For the traveling public, that is a good thing. The smaller operators in remote areas provide a service for which there is no alternative. Several of the major airlines are in trouble, some will fold, but we’ll never run out of ways to get around the world by air.

This is all worth thinking about because ultimately, the customer and the non-flying public have some control over the costs involved in flying. For example, who do you think is responsible for most of the regulations that force up costs? The government for sure, but it comes from people like a California woman, Kate Hanni, who is an advocate for airline passengers’ rights. She has her case against American Airlines before a Federal judge in Oakland, because American left a planeload of passengers stranded on a tarmac in Austin, Texas, for

BEAR’S AIR Barry Meek

nine hours in December 2006. This woman formed the “Coalition for an Airline Passenger’s Rights” to take her case to the courts.

This group of people, numbering over 21,000 and growing, seems to be packing a big stick. They’ve got several influential members of government on their side. They circulate petitions and run active membership drives through websites. They will undoubtedly succeed to some degree with their goals. But at what cost, and more to the point … is this the right way to deal with the situation?

First of all, the incident that got the ball rolling was an American Airlines plane being diverted around dangerous thunderstorms. They were sent to Austin, Texas where apparently gates and services were already stretched beyond limits. Consequently, although safely on the ground, the airport and American were simply unable to accommodate the passengers with anything close to first-class service. I can’t see where it’s much different from a driver in a Saskatchewan snowstorm being forced to spend the night at a farmer’s home. He wouldn’t get a feather bed and fourcourse breakfast for sure, but he would be warm and safe. You’d never hear of the traveler forming a coalition to force all prairie farmers to prepare their homes and accommodate unfortunates who are stranded by weather.

It seems to me that the whole system could be cleaned up, the poor, inconsiderate, money-grabbing operators could be culled by the simple process of supply-anddemand, and the world would still be a happy place. If American Airlines deliberately mistreated their customers on a regular basis, it wouldn’t be long before they had no customers to treat. Meantime, it would open the door for an airline that could see the opportunity for its own good service to succeed.

Maybe this is all too simple. What’s missing here? What this Coalition for Airline Passenger’s Rights is attempting to do, is force even more regulations on the air service operators. They want government to wade in and dictate rules, many of which would be beyond the control of the airline, such as assuring no plane sits on a tarmac for more than three hours without having a gate to dock at.

Isn’t that at least partly the responsibility of the airport?

Many delays come from the stuffed air traffic control story cont’d on p 6

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Bears Air cont’d from p 5 system, a major problem that could be seeing breakthroughs with the next generation of air traffic control.

Their “bill of rights” goes on, demanding personnel immediately available to move passengers from one area of a terminal to another, to ensure their baggage shows up when and where it’s supposed to, compensation of 150% of a ticket price for those who are bumped by postponed flights (for any reason). There is a lot more, and you can see their website for details.

I may be cynical, but if we demand the government to come in and start enforcing even more regulations on all air operators, isn’t this ultimately going to push ticket

prices up even more? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. The free market always has, and will continue to weed out the poor and greedy business operators. The result of more and more regulation can only mean higher and higher costs for all air operators and all customers.

If American Airlines is truly negligent and greedy, or is just inefficient and needs a business plan overhaul, then it will ultimately face the market and make the changes needed. Or, it will simply disappear. Adding more regulations will eventually ensure the demise of all air operators.

Barry Meek bcflyer@propilots.net

Sydney Smoothhand Solution: The solution to Green or Red, page 11, Aug Pat Chief Pilot Johnnie Martin suspects that something is a little awry with the scenario as outlined by Syd after talking to the Chief Engineer... "...Now, look at the belly, the gear and the gear doors - there’s damage to the centerline of the aircraft, but the damage is limited to the skin and doesn’t appear to have reached the underlying structure. I don’t expect we’ll find any damage there. And check out the gear: there’s no damage to the tires or the wheels and the nose wheel doors are in pristine condition...”

If, as Sydney related, the aircraft settled to the runway as the gear retracted into their wells, there should be damage to the tire side walls, and the gear doors, and the gear legs. As there is none, Chief Johnnie is thinking that the gear was never down to start with. As he later related to his boss "This wasn't the first time that the gear handle was place in the 'down' position after the aircraft came to a stop..."

PR OFESSIONAL PILOT PR OGR AM OPEN HOUSE Saturday, September 27, 2008

11AM - 4PM

Do the sounds of aircraft make you dream of becoming a pilot?

Then come to the Career Pilot Open House at the Victoria Flying Club.

Right beside the Control Tower. 11am until 4pm.

Refreshments will be served.

You will have a chance to talk directly to professional pilots and find out everything you need to know.

Take a look at Business and Training Aircraft right at our facility.

Discover if this career offers what you want.

There are very few pilots who could ever say they don't love the job.

For more information, call us at 250-656-2833

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In My Travels

by Larry Dibnah

The Avro Anson Named after a British Admiral of the 18th Century, the Avro “Anson”, nicknamed ‘Faithful Annie’ or ‘The Flying Greenhouse’ by those who flew it, entered RCAF service in 1940 after serving in the RAF Coastal Command at the outbreak of World War II. It was the first aircraft to be flown by the RAF to have a retractable undercarriage which was a comparative novelty in 1936.

The Ansons were eventually replaced by later types such as the Hudson and Whitley throughout 1940, but a few remained with Coastal Command until 1942. In the early days of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, the Anson was selected as the standard twin-engine aircraft for the training of pilots, observers, wireless-operators, and bomb aimers. Over 20,000 aircrew members received their training on the Anson. At first the aircraft was supplied by the United Kingdom, but as the war situation worsened, production was started in Canada.

Although used primarily as a trainer when first delivered to the RAF, it served operationally in the early years of the war as a light bomber and coastal patrol aircraft.

The Avro Anson MK I was to be the standard twin-engine trainer for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. However, by May 1940 British production could not keep up with the demand for aircraft so Federal Aircraft Limited, a Canadian government owned company in Montreal was set-up in 1940 to supervise construction of the Avro Anson Mk II trainer in Canada. The first Canadian built Mk II A wartime Anson Mk. 2 (RCAF.com Anson flew in August 1941. The Mk II featured considerable use of plywood to save archives) stocks of steel and aluminum for other purposes. North American ‘Jacobs’ 7 cylinder radial engines were substituted for the English ‘Armstrong-Siddeley Cheetah’ engines, and later the airframe was substantially redesigned. Nearly 3,000 Canadian Mk II Ansons were made and fifty were obtained by the USAAF under the AT-20 designation.

Avro Anson Mk II’s were used primarily to train pilots to fly multiengine aircraft. However wireless operators, navigators, and bombaimers were trained in the Anson as well. As a training aircraft the Anson was docile, forgiving, and easy to fly. Anson Mk II’s were a familiar sight in the skies of southern Alberta during the war. The RCAF employed 4,413 Ansons (of all Marks) between 1940 and 1945.

All were declared surplus at war’s end and many were immediately destroyed. Some were sold to farmers who used their electrical, mechanical, and other parts for various purposes on the farm.

Several Ansons were bought by small Canadian airline and charter operators such as Jim Spilsbury’s Queen Charlotte Airlines. Also, the BC Government and other provincial jurisdictions employed military surplus Avro Ansons in the early 1950’s for use as utility aircraft.

A fully-restored Avro Aanson Mk. 2 belonging to the BC Aviation Museum

The BC Aviation Museum collection includes an Avro Mk II Anson which has been completely restored using the hulks of two Ansons acquired from the Legion in Ft. St. John, BC. The project was completed in 2004. The following specifications pertain to the BCAM’s Anson Mk II: Power plants Gross Weight Maximum speed Wingspan Length

two 330 hp Jacobs L6MB 7-cylinder radial engines 9,275 lbs.

190 mph.

56 ft, 6 in References: The British Columbia Aviation Museum, and RCAF.com 42 ft, 3 in Photos: Larry Dibnah, the BCAM and RCAF.com

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a z i l with N r B 54CC To

March 1st Kingston - St George’s, Grenada – Rochambeau, Guyane.

We are both beginning to get used to these early starts and head off with enthusiasm only to be met with the stark reality of the Caribbean pace of life. We do not get airborne until a few minutes after 8, an hour late.

Everybody down here is very pleasant, relaxed and friendly; they just aren’t particularly quick or efficient. We are both very patient, recognizing the inevitability of it all.

This more casual approach is preferable to the rudeness often experienced in North America. Out to sea again for the long crossing to Grenada. We are now using an IFR flight plan simply to get us into the air, without paying too much attention to the Flight Planning Clerk’s insistence that We fly around this airspace or Along that airway.

Once airborne, the ATC folks quickly grasp what we require and cheerfully give us the clearances we ask for.

We have long since flown outside the comfort zone of our Garmin GPS’s, (remember them?) We haven’t had enough time with a decent broadband connection to update them.

So we are making our own waypoints and flying “Direct To”. With such long straight legs this is no inconvenience.

Still filing SG/C nonetheless !

So, into Grenada for fuel and another sandwich. Two hours on the ground here, things are slowing somewhat and, as we lose an hour a day owing to our Easterly progress; we know we are going to be really late into Rochambeau, French Guyana.

And late we are. After landing, the Rochambeau tower controller waits until we have parked then bids us goodnight, switches off the lights and goes home.

Immigration has stayed open too, as have the Customs and administration staff. Everyone very friendly and efficient now we are back in the EU. French Guyana is a French “département d’outre-mer”, so a part of France.

Friendly and efficient but with no English. Bob offers them a menu of languages, none of them French so I guess we’ll just struggle. It is close to midnight when we arrive at our hotel: a guest house in the middle of the jungle, really quite beautiful. We’re sorry we can’t linger here but have

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2 Part

to be on our way at the crack of sparrows again. Bob calls in the morning to say the taxi is waiting; I leap out of bed wondering why Madame didn’t bang on the door, and rush out to find Bob luxuriating with fresh croissants and hot chocolate. “Mais m’sieu, I called zee room and dere waz no reply…” There was no ‘phone in the room!! How come she didn’t know that? It’s her hotel! Not an ideal start to my day!

March 2nd Rochambeau – Manaus, Brazil Before leaving any of these airports we must pay the fees charged for landing, parking, navigation and so forth. As we were late yesterday and kept the airport open for an additional 3 hours we are dreading the bill for half a dozen French government officials on overtime. The bill comes to 26,90! 11,84 as a landing fee, 11,38 for the airport lighting and 3,68 for parking! It would seem the poor taxpayer in France foots all the bills in French Guyana.

This time, however, our planned routing is blocked. The whole coastline down to our planned destination, Fortaleza, is buried beneath the ITCZ - The Inter Tropical Convergence Zone: a band of embedded thunderstorms 550 miles long and 250 miles wide sitting astride our planned route. Even the Ariane rockets wait for better weather! The upper winds are light so these storms are not going anywhere and we don’t have the range to fly

The Amazon at Manaus

around them, so, Plan ‘B’: a smart 90 degree turn to the South and we head off to Manaus 750 miles away in the heart of the Amazon jungle. Manaus is the capital city of Amazonia. The river here, 1300 kilometers from the coast, is vast; I have never seen a river so large anywhere.

Tourists fly here daily for boat cruises on the Amazon and some even choose to go “swimming with the Piranhas”

Bob with Chris from Swissport in Manaus

Manaus is our introduction to Brazilian bureaucracy.

There are Customs formalities, then there are Health formalities and then there are Immigration formalities.

Immigration sends us to Customs who stamp our General Declaration and send us back to Immigration. The Immigration officer can’t do anything himself so he must continually consult with his boss who is evidently trying to nap the day away in a back room. He eventually sends us on to the Health Authorities who stamp the GD again and then it is back to Customs for another stamp. Now Immigration inspects both the Customs and Health papers and then stamps our General Declaration some more.

There are 7 stamps on our Gen Dec already since entering Brazil - fascinating! Possibly it would have been easier if either of us had been able to speak Portuguese.

The Immigration official stamps my passport with a 10 day visa after I tell him we plan to be there 2 weeks: curious. Days later when attempting to extend my visa the police suggest that I not bother and that when I leave Brazil, in the unlikely event that the expired visa is detected, I will be given a fine of $8 per overdue day to be paid next time I enter Brazil - even more curious. In fact, days later when leaving Brazil from Corumba we find the Immigration girl (she looks about 14) in a tiny office in the bus station who cheerfully stamps everywhere I ask her to before waving a smiling goodbye. Possibly the language

barrier works in our favour, no point in trying to ask questions.

Finally we are good to go. Leaving Manaus, however, is not going to be so straightforward. Each time we refuel we are buying around 100 gallons of Jet fuel for $400$500. Here, however, the fuel companies will not accept credit cards so we start looking for cash. Lots of ATM’s at the airport, none work. In desperation we duck into the local Swissport office where we meet Chris, a Brazilian born of Dutch parents in Brazil who runs the Manaus Swissport office. What a stroke of luck this turns out to be. Bob goes into town with Chris looking for an ATM and I try the telephone.

Amex will not provide funds because I am not able to give them a second US address. I have only ever had one US address but they want two! I guess theAmex card is for the bin. Brazilian law prohibits Bob’s company from sending dollars to Brazil and even Maggi can only send dollars to me via Western Union. So, the next morning Chris takes us, on his day off, to the only ATM in Amazonia, it seems, that will take our cards. We find we can withdraw 1000 reals each, should be plenty. Off to the bank to change this back into US$ as the fuel company will not accept Brazilian currency, only to find that the bank now charge us a 20% premium on the exchange rate from reals to dollars, which means that with only one withdrawal permitted per day we still don’t have enough dollars to fill the fuel tank. What a bunch of BS!! There is an upside: “Buffalos” which was closed yesterday is now open, and we can eat beautifully grilled beef and drink surprisingly good Brazilian red wine for dinner.

Stand #2 in Kingston

Part 3 of this amazing and amusing story next month!

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Here is another intriguing aviation mystery by John Swallow of the Vernon Flying Club

The Blown Tire Johnnie Martin leaned back in his Algonquin chair on the deck of his cottage and watched a sailboat tack against the wind about a half-mile off shore as towering cumulous clouds built in the distance. Taking a pull on one of the two “Old Speckled Hen” beer he allowed himself on days off, he idly scratched the head of “Rusty”, his ten-year old golden retriever and wondered if life could get any better.

Yesterday, he’d won a medal of sorts. The local airport had sponsored a “Family Day” for the town and several thousand people arrived to look at aircraft on static display, vintage cars, motorcycles, and watch an hour or so of timed trials on the runway. After that, everyone was invited to participate in “Runway Bowling”. Patterned after an a Irish game played on a one- or two-mile stretch of highway, the object of the game was to get your rubber ball from one end of the runway to the other in the fewest throws. Johnnie placed in the top three but was beaten out by a sixteen-year old pitcher for the girls high school softball team. Johnnie had good distance, but his accuracy was abysmal. When he congratulated the young lady, she credited her good fortune to the fact that the runway was so smooth and level. If you threw your ball straight with no twist or turn on the sphere, it would roll exactly where you aimed it. For his efforts, Johnnie won a free car wash; the young lady won a fifty-dollar grocery coupon.

He took another sip of his “Old Speckled Hen” and again thought that life was pretty good.

Chief Pilot for an up-and-coming company involved in forest products for the past year, he figured he had the dream job of all dream jobs.

Good equipment, good salary, good working conditions, good people, and a cottage on a lake not five miles from town. What more does a pilot need?

Sure, he’d had a couple of annoyances shortly after assuming his position, but they’d worked themselves out pretty well. He’d initially been upset with the Peacock Prescott fiasco; Prescott of the “I had engine failure at four thousand feet and put the ‘185 on it’s nose when I ran out of landing area.” Martin knew that was a lie because the props on the aircraft were bent forward, not back. However, unable to prove any different, the company had continued to employ Prescott until he got a job flying a Caravan for a company flying cancelled cheques around the province. Johnnie had recently heard via the “old boys net” that, in his cups one night, Prescott had confided to some younger company pilots that he had once landed a Cessna 185 near a lake to check on some property for sale, and had hit something on take-off. He’d got the aircraft airborne, but it was shaking so bad that he landed in the first available clear area he could find. Coming in high and fast, he had indeed landed long and run out of room, putting the aircraft on its nose as he braked.

Prescott was a piece of work alright.

The wheels-up landing in the company Navajo was resolved when the pilot finally admitted that he “must have forgot to lower the gear” prior to touchdown. The company owner was upset that the

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pilot had not been forthcoming at the outset, but agreed with Johnnie that he was salvageable. His punishment? Two years on a Cessna 180/185 series before getting back on the twin.

He took a last pull from the can and then heard thunder from across the water. He swung his attention back towards the sailboat and noted that it had stopped in its progress down the lake and was heading back to the dock. What had been a towering cumulous not a half hour ago was now poking its head into the stratosphere and was releasing copious amounts of water to the earth below. That, coupled with the gust-front cloud and lightning, were putting on a tremendous display; one guaranteed to scare the bejaysus out of any pilot; airborne or waterborne. The formation appeared to have passed over the town and was now heading his way. Time to go in and find the lantern in case the power went.

The storm came and went, the power stayed on, and he had just turned his T-bone steak on the grill when his cell phone rang; it was Charlie Rossiter, his operations officer. “Hey, Charlie, you get any rain in there?” he queried.

“We had a gully washer in here for a while. We must have got a good half-inch of rain in about 15 minutes. It came down in buckets” the Ops Officer replied.

“Well, you obviously didn’t phone me to give me a weather report.

What’s up? said Johnnie.

Rossiter responded “Just wanted to give you a heads-up; Stan Neilson and Rob Kennedy arrived about ten minutes after the storm passed and blew the right tire. Nobody hurt and no damage to the aircraft other than a dual tire change. The aircraft is in the hangar and the passengers have gone home. The pilots are still here. The duty engineer thinks they landed with the brakes on. I’ve taken a picture of the left tire and I’ll be e-mailing it to you as soon as I get it into the computer” Martin thought for a second and then said: “Get Neilson to give me a call right away” When the phone rang again, it was an apologetic Stan Neilson.

“Boss, I’m sure we didn’t land with the brakes on. It was a normal approach, on speed and stabilized. The touchdown was so smooth it was like we put the wheels in ground effect to bring them up to speed before touch down. I wasn’t riding the brakes or anything; about halfway down the runway, there was a pop and then we started slowing down pretty good and pulling to the right. I shut down on the runway and when we got out we could see that the tire was flat”.

Martin responded: “You and Rob go home and get a good night’s sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow. I think I know what happened and why, but I’ll know for sure shortly.

A half hour later, Johnnie checked his e-mail and received the picture that accompanies this article. “Just as I thought” he said to himself. And went to the fridge and hauled out a third “Old Speckled Hen”; partly because he still had two days off, but mostly because he was such a damn fine detective.

What does Chief Pilot Martin think happened to the crew?

Did Stan Neilson pooch or is there another explanation?

Answers to the Editor in the usual fashion.

A

o batics r e VFC Fly ut -o

As most of you will be aware some months ago VFC sold its Citabria and thus ceased to provide club members with the option of flying aerobatics through the club. Many of us were greatly saddened by this action and decided we needed to put our heads together and come up with an alternative. After doing some research we have been able to find two private companies offering aerobatics training in the Seattle area and decided to give it a try.

Ted gives a big thumbs-up after aerobatic flight

August 16th was the date that worked best for everyone. This took some organizing given all of our summer vacation schedules and trying to match that with availability of the two instructors down south. They both seem to be rather busy! Sam Roland, on our end, managed to persuade one of the instructors to work on his day off to fit us in.

We booked two 172s (PFW and MEK) for the day to transport the six of us down to Renton Washington for our Saturday fly-out fun. We all showed up at the club bright and early in the morning but immediately ran into a problem. The oil temperature gauge in MEK was non-functional which grounded the plane. All of the other 172s were booked. Sean Steele and Danny Poirier very generously volunteered to stay behind and so four of us (Sam Roland, Ted Krasowski, Ellen Wood and Colin Williamson) climbed into PFW with Ted at the controls and Sam helping out in the right seat. An hour later we were touching down at Renton.

The view out front when upside down

After clearing US customs Sam introduced us to Will Allen, our instructor.

Will owns and operates Flip Side Aerobatics and keeps himself very busy 5 days a week providing aerobatics and tail-wheel training.

We started our lessons by sitting down in Will’s office and having a discussion around the experience each of us has, what we wanted to accomplish in general, and specifically what we would do today.

Next up was an introduction to Will’s aircraft. N234HB is a 1992 180HP Super Decathlon with a constant-speed prop. The airplane is in absolutely beautiful condition inside and out. There is no doubt that N234HB is Will’s pride and joy!

Will briefing the group before take-off

Despite the visual similarity with a Citabria the Decathlon has a number of significant improvements. The biggest difference is its nearly symmetrical airfoil compared to the Citabria’s flat bottomed wing. Other improvements include conventional rudder pedals and toe brakes and better seating providing improved leg-room (useful for Colin who is 6’3”!) and much better visibility over the cowl when taxiing. The 180HP engine with a constant-speed prop also provides lots of oomph and removes any worries about over-revving the engine during aerobatic maneuvers.

The Super Decathlon in an absolute joy to fly. Its controls manage that wonderful combination of being very responsive, yet also being stable and predictable. The aileron and elevator controls are beautifully balanced and only need light control pressures on the stick. The rudder pedals need a bit firmer push but still give excellent response.

Each of us went out for a one-hour lesson and each of us came back with a huge grin on our face! Depending on our experience and goals the curriculum varied somewhat but included steep turns, stalls, Dutch rolls, cont’d on P.12

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cont’d from P.11

rudder stalls (aka Falling Leaf), aileron rolls, loops and spins.

Sam, already having a good bit of aerobatic experience, went through a considerably more complex routine.

All of us found Will to be an excellent instructor providing clear instructions, positive Colin grinning getting ready to go reinforcement when we got it right and clearly explaining where improvement was required in a clear, but friendly and supportive way.

Colin won the honours of flying the group back late in the day with Ellen up front assisting. It was a beautiful warm evening with the sky turning pink, red and purple as the

sun slowly set behind the mountains as we neared home.

We had so much fun we’re already busy organizing the next few trips for more aerobatics. We are tentatively planning trips for September 20th and October 4th and possibly one more before the winter rains settle in. For our next aerobatic excursions we are hoping to line-up both Will Allen of Flip Side Aerobatics and Matt Groth of Northwest Aerobatics (also with a Decathlon) at Arlington Washington so that we can have two students getting lessons at the same time.

If you would like to join us please give Colin a call at 474-1737 or e-mail at ckconsulting@telus.net.

Ellen climbs in for her turn

Environment Canada and the Victoria Airport Authority have declared VFC’s two underground fuel tanks a potential bio-hazard and have ordered their removal before June 25, 2012.

This will incur significant cost to the Club; in excess of $125 K for the removal of two 12,000 litre old tanks and the installation of a new above-ground tank. These funds must be raised from the membership and will mean an increase in rates and other charges.

$

We would appreciate hearing from the membership with any ideas about fund-raising.

VFC Smile Cards The Victoria Flying Club is very excited to partner with Thrifty Foods in their successful

Smile Card Program.

Pick up your Smile Card today and 5% of all your Thriftys grocery purchases will go towards creating scholarships and awards for VFC members.

To date, we have been able to create three new bursaries!

Pick up cards for your family and friends too.

This is a great opportunity for VFC members.

We thank you for your support!

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SMILE CARD TOTAL TO DATE

$6481

$

Afshas Aziz (Ian Watt)

Alexander Tay (Jeff Lightheart)

Sonja Futehally (Simon Dennis)

First Solo

Jared Mann (Mike Chow)

Mae Loo (Mike Chow)

as of August 15•08

Ron Spencer (Tristan Nano) Ron Spencer (Tristan Nano)

Victoria Gort (Simon Dennis)

Wade Snider (Brad Fraser)

Nolan Labach (Ian Watt)

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The Nelson Flight Fest

A gorgeous arial shot of Nelson airport (CZNL) and the surrounding terrain

took place in late July. Ted, Ellen and Don headed off from VFC to Nelson BC to take in the weekend show...it was a great flight (or series of flights..), a good show and in general lots of fun.

Fraser Blues in flight above the runway

Nicely finished deHavilland Beaver departing Nelson airport

A beautifully restored North American T-28

Visitors take in the sights

'Fraser Blues' demonstration team with their line up of Ryan Navions

John Mrazek in his beautiful North American Harvard

L indair Ser vices Ltd Specializing in Cessna, Piper, Beaver float and wheel equipped aircraft.

A high quality Service Department that is ready to complete any inspection or repair requirement you may have.

5180 Airport Road South, Richmomd, BC Tel: 1-800-663-5829 Fax: 1-800-667-5643

www.lindairservices.com 14

All You Ever Wanted to Know about Friday Harbor – and More

by A. Le Ronne Turning base for 16, KFHR

A

h, Friday Harbor, yes, that’s the correct spelling of harbour, since it’s an American town – KFHR is the FAA identifier. It’s only a 15 or 20 minute flight from CYYJ as the Cessna flies, but it might as well be in Timbuktu when it comes to getting there. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but because it’s across the formerly longest undefended border in the world, both the Canadian and American Customs people have a list of rules that makes it more than a short hop.

KFHR is a Customs Landing Rights Airport, abbreviated LRA, but how do we know this?

There is nothing to tip us off in the US Flight Guide; on the KFHR page, the acronym LRA is used, although in this case it means Lower Ramp Access! To be fair, I did find one reference on a Friday Harbor website that stated: International operations: Customs Landing Rights Airport.

Achievements First Solo Wade Snider Alexander Tay Ron Spencer Nolan Lebach Jared Mann May Loo Victoria Gort Afshas Aziz Sonja Futehally

PPL Flight Test Rahul Rathee Rebecca Bissett Hernan Pizarro Sanu Krishnan Mohmed Motala Gordon Hahn Martin Pepper Brendan Pellow Rahul Rathee James White

I guess we’re supposed to know what that means. It means you must phone ahead and ask for landing rights. The next step is to phone the KFHR Customs with your proposed arrival time to find out if it is convenient with them – remember - Customs is primarily busy with harbour traffic. Air traffic is slotted between ferry arrivals. They appreciate a faxed Arrival Report as well as a telephoned one but a phone call with full information is acceptable. Don’t arrive more than 10 minutes after your stated arrival time, and for Heaven’s Sakes, don’t land early. Customs is midway along the west side of the field.

PPL Written Test

So, now we are at Friday Harbor and it’s a beautiful spot. There is quite a bit of parking on the northeast side of the runway (16/34) and it’s free if you’re only staying for a few hours. It can be pretty full in the summer. The parking is accessed by a one-way taxiway.

All departures from runway 16 are from the west side; just follow the one-way taxiway across the north end of the runway.

CPL Flight Test

It’s a nice walk into the heart of town with tourist shops, the harbour itself and various cafes and restaurants. If you want to go for an aviation theme, Ernie’s Café is right on the field near the north end. Be aware, though, that there is no aircraft parking near it; however it’s an easy lope across the grass from the northeast tie-downs. Be sure to watch for landing aircraft!!

There are several noise-abatement procedures in force: they like you to maintain the circuit altitude of 1100’ ASL as long as possible even when landing – “use PAPI with minimum power and flaps” and when departing climb runway heading to 1100’ or beyond the town off runway 34, or over the golf course off runway 16.

We all know the procedures for transborder flights in either direction. When filing your return flight plan to CYYJ, you must give Canadian Customs a minimum 2 hours notice.

The US flight planning number, 1-800 wx brief is automated and is voice activated.

If you don’t have a “roaming” cell phone, you should know that there is no phone in the pilots’ Briefing Room, but there is a phone in the south end of the terminal building. The terminal is a bit of a walk if you’re parked on the northeast side.

Now we’re all set to return to YYJ. Don’t forget, you MUST activate your flight plan with Seattle FSS. This can only be done when airborne and preferably above 1100’ and out of the FHR circuit area. By then, you’re nearly home.

Downwind right for 16, KFHR

looking north from Customs.

Caravan is about to depart

looking down 16, KFHR

Brendan Pellow Martin Pepper Ryan Smith

Private Pilot License Keegan Rink Tom Eng Karim Gharios Chris Ware

RPP Flight Test Charlotte Dawe

Commercial Written Karim Gharios

Welcome New Members!

Paul Gladfelty Dave Barr Burton Radons Jordan Oickle Kristy Racicot Bill Wagner Dirk Pritchard Nebojsa Marijanovic Gerald Bakken Sahar Tabet Andrew McCoig Larry Starke Robb Bull Jalman Terrence Jesse Einblau Ronald Salome Ken Jones Fred Murphy Matthieu St-Jean Jayeson Magri Scott Webber

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DATE

PLACE

EVENT

CONTACT

Sept 1

Victoria, BC

Victoria Flying Club, Labour Day Fly-out

Club Dispatch

Sept 13

Port Alberni, BC

Alberni Valley Flying Club’s 60th Anniversary Open House & Fly-in

Darren Hansen

Sept 14

Kamloops, BC

Kamloops Flying Club/COPA Flight 82 Fly-in breakfast, everyone welcome 08:00 hrs to 11:00 hrs

Tito Zannella 250-374-3085 tzannella@shaw.ca

Sept 21

Victoria, BC

Snowbirds Demonstration Team Dallas Rd/Clover Point @13:50 hrs

Professional Pilot Program OPEN HOUSE Saturday, September 27, 2008 11AM - 4PM Do the sounds of aircraft make you dream of becoming a pilot?

Wouldn’t you rather be flying?

• Tax and financial planning • Rapid refunds (electronic filing) • Personal, corporate and estate tax

Owner Evelyn J. Andrews-Greene, CA Sustaining Member of VFC since 1983

386-4466 #202-31 Bastion Square Victoria BC V8W 1J1

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Then come to the Victoria Flying Club’s Career Pilot Open House You will have a chance to talk directly to people who, just like you, started by wondering what it takes to become a Professional Career Pilot. You will find out everything you need to know. Well-trained pilots are in demand all around the world.

Get to know experienced Career Pilots from well known Flight Operations. Take a look at Business and Training Aircraft right at our facility. Discover if this career offers what you want. There are very few pilots who could ever say they don’t love the job.

The Victoria Flying Club. Right beside the Control Tower. Refreshments will be served.

For more information, call us 250.656.2833