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| MUSING no.5 Would you believe that musings 1 to 4 did not generate a single response from of you. Don’t worry folks if your spelling is a bit ropey or your grammar somewhat off key, either I or the spellchecker will sort things out so come on put pen to paper or finger to key. Somewhere in the back of that grey matter must be a few pearls of wisdom that you can share with the rest of us. As some of you know I have in the past taken part in International Precision flying competitions. At these events landings are done somewhat differently to the manner in which we do them in domestic competitions—each landing is to a full stop not as we do, three touch and go’s to complete the four landings. After each landing you taxi back to your allotted spot and go watch the sixty or so other landings or maybe sit on the tyre and chat to your neighbours or maybe snooze under the wing for the next hour and a quarter or so, then go and do your second landing then break for lunch. The afternoon sees you complete the last two landings. If you count flying time from wheels off to wheels on you will clock up about 15 or 16 minutes for the day Now I want you to decide if the following ever took place as described and if so where The airport is the fourth largest in the country surrounded generally by flat farm land but with hills, mountains I suppose since they rise to some 3000 ft about seven or eight miles away. This airport has an east west runway close to 2 miles long, not for little aircraft but for domestic and international flights, for us they have a 1000M-grass runway parallel to the main runway some 400M north with a 90 deg cross-runway for use in adverse wind conditions but mainly used by the AG planes In the competition prior to the landings day we did the usual calls for radio check and taxi—no problems, an occasional wait for one of the heavy brigade to land or depart. For the landings day we were given a briefing by the head of ATC, a meeting mandatory for all pilots to attend. He advised that the intention was for all aircraft to be marshalled to take off from the grass at apprx. one minute intervals so that there would be four aircraft in the circuit at any one time. As one lands and clears the runway the next takes off. He explained that the tower had two frequencies available one for the heavy metal and one to advise the marshaller if a delay was needed for any reason. Except for emergencies and should they need us to extend and maintain runway heading for landings on the hard the tower would not respond to any calls from competing aircraft. This happened to me, giving a good view of a 737 with everything hanging passing down my left hand side some 300 ft below and 1000 ft or so away—bugger no camera, always the same The senior air traffic controller along with the rest of ATC when not working joined us for supper and a few beers, a great bunch of guys. He said he was told that all competitors had at least basic aviation English and it came as a bit of a surprise when early on he got an almost indecipherable call sign followed by a short grunt and later the same followed by a higher pitched grunt which they eventually decided was downwind and final ah well so be it WE SPENT ALL DAY FLYING CIRCUITS MIXED WITH THE BIG BOYS WITH VIRTUALLY NO ATC CONTROL DID IT HAPPEN AND IF SO WHERE? Musings No.4 Read an interesting question the other day, it was from a student pilot returning from a cross country solo, he called 6 mile final and then got close to another aircraft which was in the circuit. He wondered if he should file an air miss on the grounds that the other aircraft turned in front of him and only just cleared the runway in time for him to land. What is your view on this; before you give it consider the following. Generally the ATZ of an active airfield is a 2NM circle centred on the middle of the longest runway so outside that circle you are generally in class G airspace where the rule is see and avoid and most certainly are not receiving any protection of an ATZ. This brings forth another interesting point, can you be DOWN WIND when outside the ATZ—yes you can, but you forfeit the rights conferred on you when you are within the ATZ (instructors note when you do bomber command circuits). You can call final at six miles out and on times it is a good thing to do but again it confers no rights. There are rules laid down within the ATZ circuit re rights of way but they do not apply outside the ATZ. To reiterate it is then see and avoid. A further bit of information for one or two of you—you are not obliged to accept the runway in use and offered to you if you feel that another runway would make for a safer landing on your part—request a different runway because the airfield may be using the particular runway that’s not into wind for other reasons—noise abatement—longer runway for larger aircraft—if you are not happy ask. NOTAMS—probably the biggest bone of contention among private pilots—how to decode them. There are a number of websites that show notams graphically WITH NO GUARRANTTEES which I suppose is better than nothing but beware. Check with the flying school who should post daily all notams appropriate to the area of their operation. Further afield you are on your own. Notams are published in the format that they are so anyone anywhere in the world can in inverted commas intemperate them ( the big boys have people to do it for them) Just check the latest GASIL to see the number of airspace infringements—WHY—it’s those three P, s piss poor planning and using that GO TO button On a lighter note—sadly it looks like I will not be able to get to Knock this year-pity-it was a good weekend last year Possible plans for this year are maybe a round trip of Scotland, Ireland and home again, Commitments preclude a trip to the Nordic rally in Denmark, there is the possibility of a trip to southern France and one to Portugal anyone interested get in touch with JF May 21/22/23 is the dates of the National precision event at EGFE, anyone willing to help out or participate contact JF or myself May you walk away from all your landings Malcolms' Blog 3 Musings No 3 We left No.2 blog, refuelling at Calais, to confuse you all or at least not bore you to death; we made three or four of these trips so I will amalgamate the lot as though it was one trip. The route took us past Arnhem, more or less following the river. It was somewhere around here that we passed, I hasten to add in opposite directions a military jet, a F104 I think, smoking well, the jet not the pilot; incidentally the F104 if I am not mistaken was christened “the widow maker” not without reason, Canada lost 50% of their F104’s and Germany 30+% of theirs. Remember this was eyeball flying no GPS to make life easy, eventually arriving at Twente. We met up with half a dozen other Brits who had flown in for the rally. Having been introduced by our host (a survivor of flying F104’s and now a 747 captain) to a number of club members some of whom were going to host us, we were taken outside and handed the keys to three brand new white Mercs—could not fault the hospitality. Next day we had to do a Rally, -timed turning points-identify various photos previously taken by the organiser and a spot landing to finish. We thought we had done reasonably well until it transpired that John had set the stop watch one minute out; I really did not have the heart to issue a bollocking since John had spent most of the hour and a half flight being ill into a carrier bag hooked over his ears Interesting airfields, a very subjective subject surely, some love the pomp and glory of a major airfield, others because they have museum or the like, then there are others with the convenience of a hotel/motel on site or close by or maybe a golf course, then there are those who require a grass strip with a free landing if possible. My favourite memories are to say the least are difficult to choose. For the first category I could select from Cardiff, Dublin, Birmingham, Glasgow, Prestwick or Luxemburg maybe but no, all to stuffy if that’s the right word to describe them so I would plump for EBOS Ostend—no real frills, you can watch the movements overlooking the apron and runway from the first floor restaurant—a while ago now but hopefully still the same. Never been much for museums and those I have visited tended to be by car. As for airfields with adjacent accommodation, we are not over endowed with these in the UK—plenty in France, so we have a limited choice, there is Rochester, Sywell and Earls Colne, Blackpool maybe, to qualify they have to be within walking distance on a wet Sunday morning, the two other interesting ones that I know are Kirkbride south west of Carlisle—you can or at least you could park your aircraft in the car park of the Feathers hotel (currently there is a dispute between a local farmer and the flying club as to the use of this taxiway). The feathers provided some of the best food I have ever had. My favourite--- Glenforsa on the Isle of Mull a fifty yard walk from aircraft to hotel, Scandinavian style right on the loch side. If you go there don’t forget to take a trip to the local fishing village of Tobermory. Interesting airfields for other reasons try Scilly Isles, airfield a bit like an up turned saucer or maybe Hook beside the M3, definitely one way in and one way out and no overshoot once you are below 200 ft on approach unless you can climb like the space shuttle. You might like to try Mollis in Switzerland, plenty of tarmac to land on, 1400 ft above sea level, in a valley barely a kilometre wide with the rock faces going up nearly vertically to above 6000 ft. You fly downwind about 50ft yes 50 ft from the rock face (JF should have a photo of this). There are a few friendly strips, fields call them what you will in Ireland which generally make no charges for your use of them. And to finish as I am running out of words again, a grass strip that I am sure none of you will ever visit—600 Metres or so long with a parking area off from the middle. We had been given permission to use the strip for landing practice and at half time we were sat around drinking cans of coke when a Pawnee landed and taxied up to where we were, out jumped, a bit of an exaggeration for the 70 year plus pilot smoking a big cigar-he wanted to know what we were doing there, when told, he grunted, got back in the Pawnee, strapped in still smoking his cigar, fired up and away, no backtracking. There was no way the Pawnee would clear the sixty foot trees at the end of the strip, he just knife-edged the Pawnee between two tree and disappeared at about 50 feet and the strip, where was it? Somewhere in Chile.
Again cheers Malcolm Malcolms' Blog 2 PFC
Further musings The other week you had a few moans from me, I feel maybe it should be a bit lighter—Yes and No—as a small club, it functions best if most of you put a little bit in—like sending John your views on my first blog---good, bad or indifferent, I don’t care—that’s a lie—but whatever, it adds something for us all to discuss—so come on—fingers on keys—no exceptions Glad that’s over, both you and me Reminiscing, a good few years ago JF and I were invited to participate in a Dutch rally at Twente airforce base in Holland not far from the German border. No photograph allowed, apparently aircraft in hardened hangers, fully armed, pilot strapped in ready to go in the event of a third world war, pilots stood down every four hours. We decided to have a night stop in France so John could practice his pigeon French. Off we set in the PA28 to Compiegne where I am sure you all know the German surrender was signed in a railway carriage at the end of the First World War. We arrived overhead having cleared customs at Lydd and Dinard to see a couple of aircraft in the circuit and glider flying in operation. Usual calls elicited nothing in English although obviously there was plenty going on in French. John’s pigeon French got us nowhere so I decided to slot in with the other two aircraft in the circuit. Landed, all grass by the way, and taxied over to the tower, where John could now use his French face to face, this resulted I think more by gesticulations than anything else in us tying down SD and a taxi arriving Having found a very nice hotel we decided to push the boat out with a good meal, a drop of wine and some ice-cream. John reminded us that we were now on French time so should put our watches back one hour. The meal was good, the wine so, so, at least for me as John ordered red wine, I generally only drink white—not sure with his French if the waiter had any idea as to what colour he ordered, but he got the ice-cream right, it was enormous, no not big, enormous. Since we are both ice-cream lovers maybe John’s French got the better of him. We sat there chatting, sipping the wine, thinking the place is suddenly very quiet, so we sipped a little more and eventually settled the bill with much mon amis from John. As we walked up the street to the hotel the town clock chimed mid-night not ten o’clock as indicated by our watches, no wonder the restaurant had emptied, not for the last time john got his timing wrong. Next morning, managed to get some weather of sorts out of the infernal mintel machine but no fuel so decided to drop in at Calais to remedy this shortage. I don’t recall but I guess it was John who was flying, we usually took it in turns. We called Calais some twenty miles out, runway whatever, 500 ft cloud base, 5K viz, not brilliant but with care we can slide down the ILS. The airport at Calais is some 3 kilometres north east of the town and we were coming from the south. In due course we captured the ILS, hand flying, no autopilot coupled approach for us. About three miles out and still no ground contact I glanced out of the side window to see a church steeple poking through the cloud/fog, no high ground here so this could be interesting. We had decided on the actual weather data that we had received to go around at four hundred if not visual. It was only two or maybe three hundred feet thick and we popped out on schedule with the runway at 12 o’clock. Over the town it must have been thinner and lower. To be continued, I have used up my quota of words for this blog Good flying Malcolm  Malcolms' Blog To all at PFC
A message from Cheshire, lovely sunny Cheshire, no, I lie, it’s snowing You have no doubt read Johns –I learnt flying from that-where he candidly tells of his errors; many of you will have similar stories to tell, be it pulling out the mixture instead of the carb heat on a night training exercise (sleepy before but not after) or more interesting or dramatic episodes to relate. If you do have some and who does not forward them to John—put your name to them or be anonymous. Mine is with John but it will have to wait until I return home before publication as the photos that are part of the story are not with me In the mean time let me put in writing a few muses, thoughts ,ideas and stories which you are free to comment upon—don’t be afraid if you disagree, say so, if you have something to add—add it, after all it is your club. First let’s have a little crack at the PPL exam questions which we all had to answer and mostly forget What good is knowing that an alternator needs some voltage to excite it—is it going to make you a better pilot? is it going to save your life at some stage—no I don’t think so. Is knowing the fuel to air ratio going to assist you if things go quiet up front?-nope—just jobs for the boys at the CAA Navigation—I seem to remember something about the one in sixty rule—what another load of crap, believe me when the pressure is on your brain will barely allow you to spell your own name and if you know how far you are off course why not turn 90 degrees or so and regain that course. Such action has a lot going for it a) you would then be back on the route that you planned and b) you would not be flying a route that you have not surveyed. That 2400 ft mast in the middle of Denmark was not on your original route but could spoil your day using the one in sixty rule. Somewhere I recall being advised to put 10/20/30NM marks or was it 10/20/30 minute marks along the track line—another load of cobblers. If one of those marks coincides with some big conurbation like Shrewsbury fine but if it turns out to be somewhere in the Cotswolds on a murky day where at best the villages are just yellow dots on the ½. Mil chart not so clever. Better to find a likely feature that you will easily identify and work out a time at your estimated ground speed and put that time on your chart. Sorry, I forget, you all have GPS, very reliable but not infallible a) it occasionally drops out b) rubbish in rubbish out c) the batteries if fitted can go flat d) it has a GO TO button—you are back to the one in sixty rule and you know what I think of that, ditto the GO TO button In the what, 15 years that I have had GPS it’s lost its signal twice and sods law being what it is, it was not at the best of times. The first was on a shitty approach into Texel in Holland when fortunately I was following a 150 who had a different model of GPS which was not effected—the 150 had CLOSE company all the way in. The second occasion was routing around the Paris TMA VFR on top (legal in France)-not nice but as is my want I had the relevant VOR’s tuned in so no real sweat—the GPS was off for about 15 minutes, back on before I could get the standby handheld one locked on—belt-bracers and baler twine can’t beat it Please feel free to send your comments to John—no one will be offended—maybe more later | |
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