Light Aviation August 2022

No matter how big the event – this is just a small piece of Oshkosh – fly-ins are about celebrating our love of aviation

Chairman

ERYL SMITH

CEO

STEPHEN SLATER

Engineering Director

JOHN RATCLIFFE CEng FRAeS CMgr FCMI

Chief Technical Officer

JON VINER CEng MEng MRAeS

Chief Inspector

KEN CRAIGIE

President

ROGER HOPKINSON MBE

Vice President

BRIAN DAVIES

Engineering email engineering@laa.uk.com

Email office@laa.uk.com

Office Manager Penny Sharpe

Head Office Turweston Aerodrome, Nr Brackley, Northants NN13 5YD

Telephone for engineering and commercial 01280 846786

LIGHT AVIATION MAGAZINE

Editor ED HICKS

Email ed.hicks@laa.uk.com

and Print SEAGER PUBLISHING

Production Editor LIZI BROWN

Art Editor LISA DAVIES

Two shows, one love

The wait is nearly over… thank goodness! For something that had been a regular annual ritual for many aviation enthusiasts including me, the opportunity to finally make a return to EAA AirVenture, Oshkosh, after what’s been a three year hiatus for us overseas visitors, leaves me feeling pretty excited.

It’s a show like no other, and it really is like living in some all-consuming aviation world for an entire week. The numbers, like the Oshkosh Airport site, are huge, with more than 10,000 aircraft and 500,000-plus visitors visiting Wittman Regional Airport during the week-long event.

It’s an opportunity to see some of the newest designs in the world of homebuilding, plus an array of vintage and classic rarities, some of which will, without fail, cause someone to utter the phrase, “Only at Oshkosh!”.

This year I’m hoping we’ll get to see the prototype Van’s RV-15, as well as the latest TSi Highwing from Sling Aircraft.

There’s a whole host of older homebuilt designs celebrating significant anniversaries, including 50 years of the AcroSport, Rand KR series, the Rutan VariViggen and Van’s Aircraft, plus 60 years of the Fly Baby and the Dyke Delta. If you’ve never come across that last one, then it’s worth Googling…

In the vintage world, there’s also rumour of a reproduction Lockheed Altair project that will make its first appearance, the fuselage of which will be displayed as a work-in-progress.

If you aren’t able to make it this year, don’t worry, Light Aviation will have a full report on the show in the next issue.

Closer to home, while it might be a lot smaller than Oshkosh, the LAA Grass Roots Rally, taking place at Popham on 2-4 September, promises to be a fun alternative to our usual Rally event. You can find out all the latest information on pages 12-14 of this issue.

While the venue at Popham Airfield is new, and the show display slightly smaller, I’m sure it will still provide all the same reasons to get together in September and share our love of light aviation.

I know we all enjoy looking at aircraft, but no matter what the size of the fly-in, both events have a strong common theme –catching up with old friends and making a bunch of new ones.

So make sure you keep the date clear, and I look forward to seeing you all there!

Right, I have bags to finish packing… !

ed.hicks@laa.uk.com

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FEATURES

12 GRASS ROOTS FLY-IN

Fly-in Chairman Eryl Smith offers a full update on LAA Grass Roots Fly-in

16 PROJECT NEWS

Dudley Pattison’s Sherwood Scout, New Projects and Cleared to Fly

18 FLIGHT TEST

The magical and majestic Magister –from Argentina to Czechia with a restoration on a Permit at Henstridge

28 TECHNICAL

Mike Roberts thinks about stability, and makes some calculations, in part three of this occasional series

32 COACHING CORNER

Head of Coaching David Cockburn, with more thoughts on TEM, and its practical application

35 ENGINEERING MATTERS

A look at undercarriage strut corrosion, and advice for making a speedy Permit renewal

38 SPECIAL FEATURE

The LAA members helping keep the Navy Wings aircraft airborne

43 TECHNICAL

Part two of Wise up to Wood looks at measuring, marking and cutting

48 MEET THE MEMBERS

Miles

www.laa.uk.com

Vintage World Aerobatic Championship

The Vintage Aerobatic World Championship (VAWC) unites the world of vintage and classic aviation with an exciting and entertaining event. It brings together people for a few days of fun, laughter and competitive excitement. It is the first time the VAWC has come to the UK and it’s being hosted by the Real Aeroplane Club team at Breighton Airfield. The Event Programme begins on 18 August with arrivals and a practice day; 19/20 August are the competition days; with aircraft departing 21 August. There will be evening entertainment on the 18/19, and the famous Breighton Hangar Party takes place on the 20. Spectators are welcome, but please note that as Breighton Airfield is not open to the public during the event, those who attend will need to join the Real Aeroplane Club. Membership is available now, and £20 will enable access to all events for the remainder of 2022. Visit realaero.com/club for more details.

Van’s Aircraft reveals RV-15

Roots Fly-In

LAA Grass Roots Fly-In is go!

The final details are being planned for the LAA Grass Roots Fly-in, and a full update appears in this issue on pages 12-14. We are also delighted to announce that Light Aero Spares will be sponsoring the main exhibitor marquee.

Van’s Aircraft teased the homebuilding world by releasing photos and video of its RV-15 engineering prototype making its first flights. The aircraft, which the company confirmed it was working on during AirVenture 2021, is its first high-wing design, and is designed to be more backcountry capable than the low-wing aircraft in its range.

Van’s is keen to stress that this prototype is purely to demonstrate and test key elements of the new aircraft, before the

design is finalised and a production prototype is built.

Examining the videos, it’s clear that the design uses a strut-braced, rather than cantilever wing, which is equipped with large manually actuated fowler flaps. The landing gear is internally dampened, while the cabin, which has two huge doors, appears extremely large for a two-seater.

Details suggest the aircraft is powered by the 210hp Lycoming IO-390 used in the RV-14.

Van’s promises to provide a full customer update at AirVenture 2022, where it will also be celebrating its 50th anniversary. tinyurl.com/RV-15reveal

New LAA Pilot Coaches sought

LAA National Coach, Chris Thompson, is currently seeking candidates to provide LAA Pilot Coaching coverage in South Wales (Swansea area), north-west Scotland and southern Scotland (Glasgow/ Edinburgh area).

Candidates must be an LAA Member and hold a current UK/EASA licence and relevant medical, with a current UK/EASA CRI, FI, FIE etc. rating, and at least 200 hours instruction experience. It’s also useful to also have a wide experience of flying and instructing on LAA/GA types, including, tailwheel, CS/ VP Prop and retractable. Please email Chris for further criteria and to apply crt@alternateair.co.uk

Plenty more news is available on the LAA website at

check it out every day!

Team create GPS portrait of the Queen

Six aircraft and 12 crew members from the LAA Wessex Strut have completed a GPS portrait of Her Majesty the Queen in celebration of her Platinum Jubilee.

More than 365 separate headings in six sections were flown across the South West of England by the team, code-named ‘Art Force 1’. Team leader, Amy Whitewick handed each team a secret GPS plotted path. “None of them had any idea what the final image would look like,” said Amy. “Each team was given a small, unrecognisable chunk which, when flown, recorded on SkyDemon and sent back would be stitched together digitally to form the

Young Historic Pilot Trophy to be awarded this year

The Historic Aircraft Association (HAA) is requesting nominations for the Colin Dodds Memorial Trophy for the Young Historic Pilot of The Year, an annual award for a young pilot aged 18-30 years old, flying historic aircraft types.

Squadron Leader Colin Dodds was a member of the HAA from its earliest formation, and served for more than three

Formal Notice: LAA AGM: 1100 Sunday 23 Oct 2022

The AGM of the Light Aircraft Association (LAA) is traditionally held in October each year. This year, it will be held at LAA HQ, Turweston Aerodrome NN13 5YD at 1100 on Sunday 23 October. We will also have Zoom hybrid meeting capabilities and electronic voting, allowing members to participate even if they are unable to, or wish to, attend the AGM in person.

In addition to Zoom and electronic voting, proxy votes and polling of those in the room will be used to fulfil the usual formalities of an AGM, meeting our mandatory requirements as a Limited Company. A link to the Zoom meeting will be sent to all members by email at the start of October and, along with a full list of Motions and an AGM Schedule, will be circulated with October’s LA and online.

final image.”

It took 10 hours to plot the full image of the Queen, carefully constructing it around surrounding airspace then cutting into six, manageable sections and assigning them to teams and their aircraft.

The portrait is believed to be the most complex GPS image ever drawn by air, as well as one of the first ever GPS images in aviation history to be drawn by multiple aircraft. www.artforceone.co.uk

decades, eventually being appointed Vice President in 2019. He was Deputy Chairman from 1995 until 2018. Colin was keen to encourage future generations of pilots in the historic aviation world and following his death in 2020 his family donated the silver goblet trophy to the HAA in his memory as The Colin Dodds Young Historic Pilot Trophy.

The award will be presented at the HAA Symposium at the RAF Museum in October.

Nominations should be sent to Howard Cook of the HAA Management Committee petahoward@aol.com

Nominations for Board Directors and Notices of Motion of any kind for the AGM must be received at LAA HQ no later than Sunday 4 September 2022. Motions must be signed by both proposer and seconder and, if a proposal to elect a candidate, a signed statement of willingness to serve should also be provided.

In addition, once the formalities are complete we will allocate time to a Members’ Forum to allow as many members as possible to quiz Board members and LAA staff, and to discuss some proposals for the future. Prior to formal business, we will also present LAA service awards and any Fly-in awards to members. Refreshments will be served and lunch will be available from the Turweston Tower Cafe. Meantime, if you have any questions or comments for the AGM or the Members’ Forum, please get in touch with us via office@laa.uk.com

Loss of control and stall/spin awareness is examined in the latest of the revised CAA Safety Sense leaflets. tinyurl.com/SafetySenseLOC

More LAA training courses

No doubt many of us are eagerly awaiting the LAA Grass Roots Fly-in at Popham and the opportunity to witness the superb craftsmanship of our members. Starting a build or restoration, or even simply maintaining an aircraft can seem very daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. The LAA’s growing range of courses, most of which are taught by members, can take the mystery out of building and maintaining light aircraft, enabling you to gain the required skills and confidence. Our 2022/23 season of courses starts soon after Popham – the perfect time to take the opportunity to enhance your knowledge!

● Monday 19 September sees a hands-on fabric covering course by Polyfiber agents Aircraft Coverings.

● Saturday 24 September John Barrott hosts a course on the installation and operation of the fuel injected Rotax 912iS and 915iS engines.

● Tuesday 27 September Dudley Pattison presents a course on the skills of building with wood at his workshop near Swindon. Upcoming courses include building in aluminium, Rotax 912/914 operation and maintenance, looking after your DH Gipsy, fabric covering with Oratex, aircraft electrical wiring, ROCC air-to-ground radio operators courses and a number of other subjects. All are held at the LAA’s workshop / classrooms at Turweston, unless otherwise stated.

Check out the ‘Courses’ tab on the LAA website for more details, and book early to avoid disappointment.

Brian Hope

Obituary

Alan Ayles 1935 - 2022

Sadly, ‘Mr Tipsy Nipper’ passed away on 19 June, aged 86, after a long illness.

I first met Alan Ayles in April 1995 when I became the part owner of Tipsy Nipper G-ATBW and later G-ASXI both owned by the Stapleford Nipper Group. Alan was our PFA Inspector, and he helped us to maintain the Nippers and keep them flying for many years.

Alan was known to us as ‘Mr Tipsy Nipper’, owning his company Nipper Kits and Components. His knowledge about

LAA Partner Content

the aircraft was extraordinary. He faithfully supplied us and many other owners with drawings and parts for the type. He had extraordinary engineering skills and was able to make the parts not readily available to keep the aircraft flying.

Alan has been an PFA/LAA Inspector (No 194) since 1978, and up until about 2017, a total of 39 years. He had been overseeing about 20 Permit renewal inspections per year and regularly assisting owners with servicing their aircraft.

overseeing about 20 Permit renewal

A skilled electrical and electronics engineer, having been trained in the MOD, he worked closely with Adams Aviation designing, making, and repairing equipment for military and commercial aviation organisations.

Alan spent years at the Aquila research site in Bickley where he advanced his mischievous sense of humour by pointing out the real-world hazards for some of the military’s more esoteric designs. Alan’s own code, and the secretive nature of some of that work, meant that there were, inevitably, costly British and Allied military cockups avoided, which we will never know about.

Alan was a regular attender on PFA/ LAA inspector courses and seminars over

the years. He kept so many PFA and later LAA aircraft in the air with his skill and determination. His enthusiasm extended to visits to numerous light aircraft shows including the PFA/LAA rallies and Friedrichshafen. He assisted me and a colleague build the first Titan T51 Mustang brought into the country, dedicating every Saturday for several years to the build. He witnessed the roll out of the completed aircraft and several engine tests. Unfortunately, due to illness, he was unable to witness the successful maiden flight of the Mustang in October 2021, flown by the LAA’s chief test pilot Dan Griffiths. It was a proud moment for all of us and one for which I will always be grateful for Alan’s skilled assistance and technical knowledge.

Alan sadly lost his wife Joan to cancer many years ago. He missed her greatly. He was reluctant to retire until illness confined him to home, later to a nursing home, where he peacefully passed away.

A warm, skilled, generous, kind man and a true gentleman, he leaves behind his elder brother George, nephew, niece, and great nephew, and of course many friends. He will be greatly missed.

Chris Firth

Learn more – Special Drawing Rights

You may have seen in your insurance policies or on G-INFO that values are often expressed in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). What are SDRs and why are they used?

Chrystelle Launai explains

The SDR story begins in 1969 with the creation of this ‘hybrid currency’ by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), aimed at supplementing existing money reserves of the IMF’s member countries. They are basically a supplementary international reserve asset held by the IMF, consisting in a basket of major currencies. Previously, international accounts between countries were settled solely through means of gold or dollars. But the limitations of gold and dollars as the sole means of settling international accounts created some concerns.

This new creation aimed to be beneficial in resolving the issue arising from fluctuations between currencies.

The make-up of the SDR

The value and composition of the SDR, also

colloquially called paper gold, is defined by a basket of some major currencies from IMF member countries. Currently, the main body of SDR comprises US Dollars (Approximately 42%), and the limbs include euros, Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen and GB pounds.

How does it affect your aviation insurance coverage?

Minimum liability limits legal requirements for aviation in Europe are mainly defined according to the 785/2004EC regulation (incorporated into UK local law after Brexit), taking into account the aircraft MTOW (legal liability to third parties) and the number of passenger seats (legal liability to passengers), and a couple of ancillary criteria irrelevant for private aviation. The minimum limits are expressed in SDRs. In respect of third-party liability, as far as LAA Permit-to-Fly aircraft are concerned, minimum legal requirement varies between SDR 750,000 (for a MTOW lower than 1,100lb) and SDR 3,000,000. As at 15 February 2022 exchange rate, this represents a third-party limit between £774,000 and £3,097,000 approximately. Additionally, in respect of your legal liability towards

passengers, the minimum insurance requirement is SDR250,000 per passenger seat. However, in respect of non-commercial operations with light aircraft, each country is authorised to set a lower level of minimum insurance cover, but not below SDR 100,000 per passenger. The UK and some other countries have opted for this reduced liability.

You can find these minimum requirements for your aircraft in SDRs and converted into pounds, and regularly updated on the CAA G-INFO website.

Although the basket of currencies is reviewed every five years, it may sometimes perform erratically. It is therefore essential to make sure you are sufficiently covered for each flight. Fluctuation in the value of SDR can make you under-insured for an upcoming flight. To protect your own interests and make sure your policy insurance is compliant during the whole policy period, the legal liability limits we offer are always above minimum legal requirements. For more information, please contact us.

+44 (0)3306 845108 laa@air-assurances.com

Insurance broker duly authorised by the FCA to act in the UK �

Farewell Ken – and thanks… Dear Ken,

A brief note to wish you all the best for the years to come, and to say ‘thank you’ for having looked after the standards of PFA/ LAA Engineering so very well, for so very long.

Like you, I was immersed in aviation from day one, growing up at Cranfield where my playmates were fascinating aircraft –Lancaster PA474/Shorts Sherpa/Saro flying boat etc. Unable to get a proper job, I had to settle for 747 Captain, but there was time to build a couple of aircraft. The family tradition continues from my father, Denis – and through to our son – who is also unable to get a proper job. He flies an A320, but sensibly has Engineering Licences and built a beautiful RV-6, which is my present mount.

Denis held you in high regard… ‘He’s had a proper practical apprenticeship with Doug’, was his view, and all those in your care have great respect for you.

I look forward to meeting you once again. In the meantime, thanks!

All the best, Gerry Price.

Coaching Corner query…

With reference to David Cockburn’s article about gliding sites, surely Rules of the Air, Section 4, Rule 12 covers it adequately? Best wishes, Laurence Luscombe.

David Cockburn replies: The Rules of the Air Regulations 2015 as amended contain several rules for avoiding aerial collisions, but I’m afraid neither Rule 12 nor Section 4 give any guidance about avoiding other aircraft in the air. Perhaps our correspondent is referring to a previous document which has been superseded. Following the UK’s exit from Europe, we are now constrained by Part-SERA of the adopted EU Regulations, which include the right-of-way rules we were all taught during our training, but which may have been slightly ‘tweaked’ over the years.

Rules are vital, but if you don’t know there’s a risk of collision you don’t know you need to apply them! If you haven’t seen the other aircraft you don’t know to avoid it, and accidents as well as airproxes and trials continue to demonstrate that collision hazards are not easy to spot until they are very close indeed, if indeed then. Not only do gliders present a particularly small visual target when seen head on, but if there are several in the vicinity you can easily be distracted by watching one when another one

is the actual primary collision threat. All pilots, whether of aeroplane or glider, can miss seeing other aircraft, but we can reduce the risk by avoiding likely threat areas, and even more by concentrating lookout in the direction of the most likely threat. Situational awareness includes knowing where a likely threat is greatest, and that article was an attempt to improve pilots’ situational awareness.

Aircraft data, not as you know it…

Dear Ed,

I am a returner to Light Aviation in my retirement and a member of the LAA for just a few years now. My group operates a Chipmunk under the LAA scheme. In the process of getting to this happy situation I found a lack of critical decision-making information and wondered if other members have found the same?

I am 6ft 1in tall, so above average height – and now as I get older, over average weight as well! I found myself replying to adverts for aircraft I could not use at all. Checking the data available on the LAA aircraft and kits I have found little or no information for many aircraft indicating as to whether or not I would fit in it, nor be able to carry much if I did. Although, some of the latest kits are now remedying that. I estimate around half of the aircraft types cannot accommodate me, mostly due to my height.

Yet, I do not believe I am unique in this problem, as much of the sizing is historic in nature, potentially excluding more individuals from specific types as time goes on.

There must be a wealth of experience and knowledge covering personal fit among the members. A member uses every single aircraft listed and knows what the fit for size and weight is like and other restrictions that may result. For example, some aircraft will also have minimum sizes/weights for

operation.

The LAA community would benefit from more published data regarding ‘Fit’ and the members could provide that themselves. Maybe we could all contribute to a spreadsheet type presentation for the LAA website or even a Wiki style reference sub site. It would be very helpful to the community, pointing us in the right direction for further consideration for ownership or the next kit build. It could also serve as a reminder you could get in and fit, but your family member or friend may not.

I would suggest pilot data for max and min weights, max and min heights and some ease of entry and exit comments for those of us growing older. Also some idea of the additional load and fuel available with the figures given; e.g. some two-seaters may well be rendered single-seat for practical purposes and it helps to fit some fuel in!

Maybe other members would like to suggest data they would find helpful but not readily available?

Yours, Derek Clews.

Ed replies: Derek, this sounds like an intriguing idea. Any other members interested?

Last LA cover

Dear Ed(itor),

Well done on taking the reins of the LA magazine. I appreciate how hard your task is, however, as the magazine is the public face of the LAA I’m afraid the cover photo on the July issue is appalling. How many potential members sitting idly in a waiting room or flying club are going to pick that up? A dull cockpit shot and a blurred runway. Really?

Why not something that captures the joy of flying and embodies the spirit of the LAA?

You’ve got that photo at the top of page three, the Taylor Mono’s at Glenforsa. Pity no casual reader will have made it that far… Yours, Bill Wilson.

Ed replies. Sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy the July cover. While Night/IFR isn’t something that I personally would apply for with my own homebuilt, We are proud of the LAA’s achievement of creating a path that allows members to earn approval for their own aircraft to operate unrestricted under IFR conditions alongside certified aircraft. It’s something that I felt was worthy of recognition with a slot on the cover.

Rest assured we have plenty of inspiring aircraft to continue to feature in future! ■

We are always pleased to receive your letters, photos of your flying, and your feedback. Please email the editor at ed.hicks@laa.uk.com

Above Gerry Price bids ‘goodbye’ to Ken!

Straight and Level

Challenges to come…

Eryl Smith Chairman

Hardly a day goes by without the media carrying news stories of airline cancellations, staff shortages, lengthy delays and queues at airports as the industry grapples with the recovery and the desire of so many to want to travel over the summer months. Closer to home we are coming to terms with the significant hikes in fuel prices that are likely to be with us for the foreseeable future, and as I write we are facing unprecedented temperatures across large parts of the country. The silver lining has been the lengthy period of high pressure which has enabled many to get in some long overdue flying!

Together with representatives from GA and other sports and recreational flying associations I attended a recent CAA General Aviation Partnership (GAP) meeting. These meetings, chaired by the Head of the CAA’s GA and RPAS Unit are intended to provide a forum for debate and discussion across the community on matters of mutual interest. Of late these appear to have become more of a ‘telling’ forum, as the CAA seeks to appraise the community of the myriad of initiatives and projects that it is pursuing, affording limited time for genuine debate, discussion and exchange of views. While fine words of collaboration, transparency and proportionality are spoken, it has frequently felt like one way

Updates from the Chairman and CEO

traffic. It is understandable that, as the regulator, CAA wishes to ensure that the GA community is fully sighted on its intentions and actions. However, without two-way dialogue this is not an effective means of engagement. As a community we seek dialogue, consensus and frank conversations to ensure that our issues and concerns are fully taken into account as policy and oversight is developed and implemented. Like other Associations we have considerable knowledge and experience to offer.

The most recent meeting covered a number of topics of great importance to the GA community: CAA Scheme of Charges Review (SoC); Airspace Modernisation Strategy (AMS) Update and Performance Based Regulation (PBR). Each of which has the potential to have a significant impact on our activity. Thankfully, sufficient time was allocated to enable meaningful discussion to take place. Nevertheless, together with other Associations we will maintain a watchful eye on developments, present a robust case to protect members’ interests and report progress as it arises.

By the time you read this edition of Light Aviation many members will have attended Oshkosh and, whether it’s the annual pilgrimage or as any on the LAA tour visiting for the first time, I am sure you will have returned inspired with the sights, sounds and experiences from a truly awesome event.

Closer to home we continue with Meet the LAA events at Bodmin and Rufforth East in Yorkshire and just around the corner is our Grass Roots Fly-in at Popham, which replaces our annual LAA Rally for 2022.

I hope you continue to take advantage of the fine weather and look forward to seeing you at Popham – and around the country. ■

Looking ahead

Steve Slater CEO

Writing this at the height of the summer fly-in season, I’ve got a mounting feeling of anticipation about the Grass Roots Fly In at Popham. From what I hear from all those who say they are coming, I just hope we can fit everyone in!

As you will read elsewhere in the magazine, the former Rally Working Group, headed by our chairman Eryl Smith and the Popham team under Mike Pearson have done a great job in the pre-planning. No, it doesn’t have the concrete runway, wide-open spaces and large hospitality hangar of Sywell, but the green ambience of Popham will make for a different and, I think, equally attractive event.

Another reason for a sense of anticipation is that I am writing this on the eve of (BA permitting) flying out to EAA AirVenture.

Unlike some, this is my first visit and partly the result of conversations during LAA virtual pub nights. Earlier in the year there were discussions between rookies like me and Oshkosh veterans, which culminated in around 50 or so members getting together to share the cost of coach transfers between Chicago and Wisconsin. It’s not a package tour, but rather a great example of LAA members pulling together. A big thanks to Brian Mellor and George Pick for their heroic efforts in coordinating the planning!

The only downside of attending Oshkosh, is that I’ll miss out on the Meet the LAA Day, which is being organised by Pete White, the Cornish LAA Strut and Cornwall Aero Club at Bodmin at the end of July. I know though that the LAA will be well represented by Cornish Strut and Devon Strut members, as well as the Vintage Aircraft Club. Don’t forget though, we have two more Meet the LAA Days, at Leeds East in association with the Vale of York Strut on 6/7 August and at Rougham in Suffolk on 17-18 September, organised by the Suffolk Coast Strut and our friends the North Weald Marshallers, who welcome us at so many fly ins during the summer. Do join us at one of those events if you can.

Of course, one thing that is affecting us all is the rising price of fuel and costs in general. As the majority of income to the LAA comes from membership and engineering fees, and we have worked hard to keep them level over recent years, we have a relatively fixed income, and therefore any inflation will eat into our reserves. At some point we may need to look at whether we increase fees or reduce the number of services we can offer. Which should it be? The good news is that our engineering restructuring is going well and Jon Viner, our Chief Technical Officer has put together a focused team, which is working ever more efficiently.

Of course, we don’t get everything right every time, but it was disappointing to note a small number of cases recently where members have been overly aggressive or abusive to LAA staff over the telephone. Our staff have the right to work in a safe environment, are required to report any such behaviour and all complaints are followed up. The LAA will not tolerate behaviour which is abusive, offensive or threatening, so please treat our staff

Get ready for this year’s big event!

Fly-in Chairman Eryl Smith offers a full update on this year’s LAA Grass Roots Fly-in event

The LAA’s Grass Roots Fly-in at Popham Aerodrome in Hampshire over the three days, Friday 2 to Sunday 4 September, is rapidly approaching. With Sywell unavailable, we have had to reimagine our traditional Rally. The Grass Roots Fly-In will, on one hand, take the Association back to its traditional roots, while continuing to offer the first chance to see some of the latest aircraft and products in the recreational aviation market.

Over the last few months we have been working closely with Popham Aerodrome to identify how best to develop the event, taking full advantage of Popham’s grass runways and the airfield’s famed rural ambience to create

Below left Expect to see a wide array of exhibitors, including our main exhibitor marquee sponsors, Light Aero Spares.

Below right A program of talks will take place in Speakers Corner.

a more intimate event. The weekend will focus on the fly-in and social element, while still providing many of the elements of the traditional Rally, which has brought together members and flyers from around the UK and Europe to meet fellow enthusiasts.

We have received great support from Mike Pearson, Airfield Manager, and his team at Popham, many of whom have contributed to the success of past rallies at Sywell, most recently in standing up the core of the radio team who provided the Air Ground radio service for last year’s Rally. They will once again be providing the Air Ground radio service, and procedures will be kept as simple and straightforward as possible, adopting Popham’s standard procedures.

The weekend will be focused on the 03/21 runway with a large adjacent exhibition area, dedicated LAA air park, camp site and car park for those arriving by road. A full range of catering will be available as part of the exhibition site and arrangements are being made for evening catering with BBQ and hog roast and bar. Inevitably there will be some differences from the full rally. We have been challenged in securing marquees for the event and this will limit the extent of inside exhibition space. We are pleased to announce that Light Aero Spares will be sponsoring the main exhibitor marquee. We are currently finalising exhibitor bookings and a full list of exhibitors will be available via the LAA website prior to the event. Among the other regular attractions we will have a

Above There will be opportunities to meet members of the LAA staff.

Below Buy and sell spares at the LAA Fleamarket.

speakers programme covering a range of interesting talks on products, services, aspects of flight safety and other topical presentations. The ever-popular flea market will be available, so please dig out all those unwanted parts and kit that are no longer required – there is always someone out there ready to snap them up! As always the LAA HQ Engineering team will be on hand to answer questions and provide advice, and the LAA shop will offer a comprehensive range of merchandise for sale.

Getting to the Fly-In

As always, flying into the event remains part of the experience. Arrangements for the operational procedures and marshalling remain the responsibility of Popham Airfield. In keeping with the Grass Roots theme Popham will be adopting its standard arrivals and departures procedures. These can be found in the usual publications and will be available on both the Popham and LAA websites. As previously mentioned, Popham will have an experienced Air Ground radio team on duty throughout the event, and the North Weald Marshalling team will be combining with Popham’s marshallers to co-ordinate the marshalling and parking activity. If you plan to fly-in, please ensure that you familiarise yourself with the arrangements, even if you have flown into Popham many times before.

Above Marshalling will be a combined effort between the well known North Weald team and Popham marshallers.

Popham will be adopting its standard arrival and departures procedures.

Good airmanship remains key to a successful event and should be your number one priority!

Booking a slot

Popham will be managing an online slot booking system with pre-payment at the time of booking (using the Eventbrite platform). This will be based upon timed ‘windows’ rather than individual timed slots. Once again the slot booking will allow access to the event by road, should you be unable to fly for whatever reason. Full details of the slot booking arrangements are available via the LAA and Popham websites.

Arrivals by road

Popham Airfield is easily reached by road via the M3, A303 and A34 and the airfield entrance is clearly signposted from the A303 west and east bound slip roads at the Overton and Micheldever junction just west of the airfield. Upon entering the airfield gate please follow signage for car parking or camp site.

Trophies and awards

For this year we are reducing and simplifying the categories of Awards and Trophies to be judged. They will include Best in Show; Best Amateur Build, Best New Restoration, Best Vintage & Classic and Most Meritorous Arrival. Awards will be presented as usual at the AGM in October. Full details of the award categories and arrangements for registration will be available on the LAA website.

Camping

Camping facilities on site are limited, but there is ample flat

up and running from Thursday afternoon and will close early on Monday morning.

This year there will be a single charge of £25 per unit (a unit being a tent, caravan or motorhome) irrespective of length of stay. Pre-booking a site can be done on line via the LAA shop https://services.lightaircraftassociation.co.uk/ catalogue at the reduced cost of £20.

Opening times

Friday: 9.30am-5pm

Saturday: 9.30-5pm

Sunday: 9.30pm-4pm

Admission charges

Members of LAA, BMAA and BRA: £10 covers all three days and airside access and can be booked online via the Popham Eventbrite site. To take advantage of the reduced membership entrance fee please ensure that you bring your current membership card as you will be asked to show it at the pay booth entrance.

Non-Members: The daily entry charge for non-members is £10 with a three day entrance pass available for £20. This provides entrance to the event and exhibition site, but not the airside aircraft park.

Non-Member’s airside access: Airside access to the aircraft park will be available to non-members at £10 per day and can also be booked online when pre-booking and entrance ticket for the event.

Visiting aircraft: Landing fee, payable at the time of booking the arrivals slot is £12.50. This will admit the pilot and any accompanying passengers to the event for the duration of the time that the aircraft is at Popham. The pilot and accompanying passengers will be required to book in and obtain access wristbands as usual.

Further details of the event will be available via the LAA website as they become available. ■

Above Get hands on with fabric covering skills.

Below Camping will be available.

Inspiring members to take on their own aircraft build or restoration project

Compiled by Mike Slaughter

Project News

Dudley Pattison has provided an update on yet another project he has started below, it’s a Sherwood Scout that his wife insisted he build while waiting for his KFA Safari to appear in the Cleared to Fly list. If you’re thinking, I’m sure I’ve heard that name before and I’m sure he’s built something before, then Dudley does make an attempt at totting up all his previous aircraft in his item below.

Sherwood Scout (LAA 345-15827)

By Dudley Pattison

There are some good pictures and explanations of just some of the tricks he's used to help assemble the Scout’s wings.

If you have a finished project, part complete kit, scratch build, restoration or simply a sub-assembly you’re particularly pleased with, please do share it with the membership. To get in touch with Project News, and tell your story, report a milestone or just to send a picture, email projectnews@laa.uk.com. Please share your story!

Iwrite this while waiting for a Permit to test fly the KFA Safari I recently completed. As I am just approaching my 78th birthday, I thought that would be my last build. My score at the moment is eleven-and-a-half microlights and Group A aircraft. Why the half? I completed a Eurowing Goldwing canard microlight for another agent. I had already built three Goldwings from scratch and they each flew well. The one that I finished for the third party didn’t, and I never found out why, but I have a suspicion that the agent who passed it on knew.

My long-suffering wife forced me to continue building as she could not bear the thought of me without something specific to do. So, I looked around seeking inspiration. I have links with TLAC as I once owned the rights to the Sherwood Ranger, the rather neat folding

Left The I beam spar doubler going in from the tip end. It is set at 15° off vertical to be upright at the stall. The instructions say take your time and use some oil. It also says to do this operation at a later stage – that is after the wing to strut end brackets have been drilled into the wing spar. As the I beam doubler is an extremely good fit, and he had rounded slightly the leading edge of the I beam to aid entry, he was concerned that swarf and internal burrs caused by the drilling would impede progress. As there is no way they will move with normal handling, Dudley elected to put them in before drilling the brackets.

wing bi-plane microlight, which I sold to Paul Hendry Smith in 2002. Much later I built a Ranger from a kit supplied by TLAC. I enjoyed the build, and the aircraft was a delight to fly. So, I looked at the TLAC website and decided upon a Sherwood Scout, which is an improved version of the Reality Escapade. It is very similar to the KFA Safari, just smaller and with conventional flaps and ailerons instead of flaperons..

Above Thanks to pre-assembled ribs, Dudley had the two wing structures framed up in 34 hours of building.

Above Dudley pulled through a well-used pan scrubber soaked in AC50 to aid progress, plus oil as he went. The scrubber has a line attached to both sides of it in a loop so that it can be pulled both ways after a thorough soaking in AC50.

I received the kit a few weeks ago and did the inventory with a friend. There were a few items ‘to follow’ but not showstoppers. However, I couldn’t find two drag spars, without which I couldn’t build the wings, which is what I wanted to start on. I notified TLAC and was told they were ‘definitely packed’. I was adamant that they were not there. The part number for the missing drag spars wasn’t listed on the outside of the pack containing the other four drag spars.

Eventually I convinced Paul that they were not present, and he hurriedly got two to me. I framed up the first wing in short order and when I picked up one of the main spars for the second wing out slid a package. You will never guess what was in it? Oh, you did guess… I hurriedly sent a grovelling email to TLAC, but just a tiny bit of me thought that maybe I should have been given a clue that there was something in the tubular main spar.

Overall, the quality of the components supplied is better than good, and a fair amount of work is done for you. For instance, all the main ribs and the flap and aileron ribs come complete with capping strips glued in place. The fuselage framework and all metalwork brackets are powder coated in white.

It is such a shame that the same cannot be said of the instructions and drawings. They are the old Escapade instructions modified with the TLAC part numbering system. All the instructions and drawings come as PDF

New Projects

If your aircraft has been featured in the New Projects list, please let Project News know of your progress at: projectnews@laa.uk.com

■ Van’s RV-14A (LAA 393-15833) 6/6/2022

Mr T Westwater, 2 Wycliffe Avenue, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AY

■ Bristell NG5 Speed Wing (LAA 385-15835) 14/6/2022

Mr F Sayyah, 2 Colgate Close, Ifield, Crawley, West Sussex, RH11 0AZ

Cleared To Fly

If your aircraft has featured recently in the magazine and has subsequently completed its maiden flight, Project News would like to hear from you at: projectnews@laa.uk.com

■ G-IFDA Van’s RV-6A (s/n 60380-1065) 16/6/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-ANXR Proctor 4 (s/n FHM 141) 21/6/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

files as is usual these days, but when the drawings are printed many of the dimensions are too small, and in too light a colour to actually read. The way around this is to print the drawings, put the drawing on the computer screen and zoom into the drawing. The dimensions can then be read and marked on the printed drawing. Not the end of the world, but a bit of a nuisance, and such a difference to the component quality.

Having said all that, it is going together very well and no major problems have been encountered so far. ■

Left Dudley made a steel disc so that he could knock the doubler through to position using a 40mm square timber. When one of the doublers was in position he was concerned to see that it had rotated a little. After some thought he cut a slot in the end of the square batten to locate on the web, andand was able to turn it with large adjustable spanner

■ TL2000UK Sting Carbon S4 (LAA 347A-15837) 23/6/2022

Mr C Robert, Potters Mill, Hogg End, Rockingham Drive, Bloxham, Oxfordshire, OX15 4NE

■ KFA Safari (LAA 402-15834) 1/6/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ Van’s RV-7 (LAA 323-15836) 20/6/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

Right On display at the Sleapkosh fly-in in early July, Alex Cartwright's stunning Pitts S-1-11B Super Stinker has been a family project involving his girlfriend, brother and father. Good luck for the first flight!

■ G-CLXU Europa (LAA 247-12708) 23/6/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-EMNN Focke Wulf FW44J (s/n 1904) 27/6/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-IDUL Pioneer 300 (s/n 181-UK) 20/6/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-ILMC Aeroprakt A32 Vixxen (LAA 411-15784) 13/6/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-RPAX Casa 1-133 (s/n 101) 8/6/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-SPRC Van’s RV-8 LAA (LAA 303-14969) 23/6/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-VIXI Aeroprakt A32 Vixxen (LAA 411-15776) 30/6/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

Above Dudley’s KFA Safari is just waiting for its Permit to test.

Marvellous Magister

Photos Neil Wilson

Flight Test

There are very few ‘Maggies’ around these days. Miles built 1,303, including 700-plus, which served as military trainers with both the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm in Britain, plus a large number exported abroad. Today, just five are airworthy – and all are within our shores. Their construction was of spruce with a plywood skin and a fabric covering, making a light but strong structure. They and their Instructors trained many, much-needed pilots in 16 service schools throughout WWII. A modern, efficient, low-wing cantilever monoplane, that had its roots not just as a civilian club trainer, but as a racer too.

The small number remaining, explained by many tales of Guy Fawkes bonfire nights, celebrated by dragging a long unserviceable Maggie out and setting fire to it with the accompaniment of cheers. It seems almost unbelievably sacrilegious to us now, but then, it was a common fiery demise. And the reason? These unloved machines became less viable with time, their degrading casein glue raising structural issues, with the costs of repair proving uneconomical.

A return to home

However, the count on our shores of serviceable machines has only very recently increased by the addition of Richard Santus’ example, which was formerly registered LV-X245. This is one of 120 acquired by Argentina just after the war to distribute to its flying clubs. She had been rebuilt twice during her life and, a few years ago having arrived from the drier climate of Argentina by way of Czechia (its now preferred designation of the Czech Republic). She has been taken apart and totally rebuilt at Henstridge, over a condensed period of just two years, by Kevin Crumplin and Annabelle (Annie) Burroughes of Tiger Moth Training.

Since his retirement Kevin has rebuilt six de Havilland Tiger Moths, a Sherwood Ranger, a Van’s RV-6 and a rather splendid Stolp Starduster, which he was flying when I first met him. To add to the list a further three sailing boats and now a pre-WWII MG-A, he is progressing at home.

Annie is within the same form, but nowhere near retirement, and also has a similar grounding having

From Argentina to Czechia, with a restoration on a Permit at Henstridge. Clive Davidson takes to the air in a wonderfully restored member of the Miles family…

completed her father’s Ferguson tractor, and inherited Land Rover. Aeroplane-wise, there’s been a shared RV-7 with FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control), the first on the LAA fleet, and her own CASA/Bucker Jungmann, which now flies Luftwaffe garb, which she aerobats and displays.

The Maggie has been a joint undertaking of a solid two years in the remaking, interweaved with the various Covid lockdowns and restrictions, under the watchful eye of their Inspector, Ray Harper. I have watched the project grow over coffee breaks – and dark chocolate biscuits – from the adjoining hangar, hearing discussions on how ‘this and that’ was going, solving near intractable difficulties, and a myriad of steps towards their goal. All this while their other project of a 1930 Gipsy Moth was temporarily rested, waiting for its turn of rebirth and flight.

Some history

The Miles Magister sprang from British Air Ministry specification T.40/36, ‘T’ for trainer, ‘40’ for the 40th in sequence and ‘36’, for the year 1936, which requested a development and production version of the Miles Hawk Trainer. These elder siblings were of three versions. Four designated M2W Hawk Trainer had de Havilland Gipsy Major engines, nine M.2X’s had a larger rudder horn balance which reduced foot pressure forces and aided co-ordination, while the M.2Y had some further minor

Above Approach from the right, up onto the walkway and into the cockpit via the doors.

Left The Gipsy asks for left rudder on take-off to counter the prop’s rotation.

improvements. The M14, the company designation for the Magister prototype, first flew in March 1937. It had enlarged cockpits so that a parachute could be worn, its layouts and instruments were standardised, as well as an instrument flying hood that could be pulled forward to blank all external visual cues. A few modifications followed, principally to resist a tendency to spin by raising the tailplane six inches and fitting rear fuselage spin strakes on the upper aft fuselage. The rudder was also enlarged to aid recovery. This was probably an issue caused by elevators partially blanking a large section of the rudder, preventing an early and efficient surface to act against the direction of the spin. On acceptance, Miles put the Magister into production at Woodley in Berkshire.

The M14 Magister was the first low wing monoplane to enter service and prepared trainee students for the new high performance low-wing fighters, the F36/34 Hawker Hurricane and Spitfire F 37/34 (F for Fighter – logically!)

The Magister’s new technical attributes of main wheel brakes, a castering tailwheel, flaps and a pneumatic system, were all advances from the then in-service biplanes, notably the DH-82a, which had no conventional wheel brakes other than a steerable tail skid. This standard had kept biplanes operating into wind from grass airfields, limiting their pilots to unnecessary crosswind operational capabilities. Soon, ‘hard’ runways would be laid predominantly into wind to help maintain a regularly flat surface for heavier types. Here on a metalled surface, metal skids on hard runways produce little to no friction in arresting the aircraft’s rolling action, but did wear the skid down.

Incidentally, of the 24 syllabus flying exercises in use then, exercise 22 was crosswind landings, rather late in the order of the day and recommended only for the preparation of forced landings.

Everyday landings were into wind on a grass airfield, a luxury many of us can only dream of. The apocryphal RAF crosswind limit for the Tiger, is still quoted as 4mph. (0.2 of the stall speed), an accepted generalised limit would actually be 7.6mph, but then, there is the question of maintaining directional control on the roll out from the landing having got down.

Richard Santus

Sitting ready for flight, ‘she’ is resplendent in her dulled brown and dark green wavy lined camouflage. The conspicuous training yellow underneath rises to circle and define the fuselage roundel, the dark-toned wing roundels, contrasts the brighter red, white and blue fin flash and the scheme is topped off with purposeful Czech national emblems on both sides near the front cockpit.

She is a palette of WWII training livery art. Beautiful in her crisp and accurate presentation. That this Magister had been used to train free Czech Instructors and pilots within the Royal Air Force, was a particular facet of its past life that Richard wished to bring to view and display for his home country and historians.

Richard is an accomplished pilot flying in just about all of our aviation spectrum, from managing and flying at Aeropartner, a private charter airline that operates Citation light jets. Aeropartner commemorates the legacy of the Czechoslovak airmen fighting in exile in the period of 1939-1945 by using the company call sign ‘Dark Blue’

and having ‘DFC’ as their Air Carrier ICAO identifier. Richard is also an Instructor and display pilot (I first met him at a display at Pardubice, east of Prague), examiner, a commercial balloon pilot, and a glider and light aircraft test pilot. Handy, when it came to test flying the Magister.

He is also very keen on his country’s history, made stronger by delving beyond the ousted eastern influence propaganda and discovering the reality of his nation’s struggles. His company pilot’s uniform closely resembles that of our 1940s Air Force, which is a nice touch.

Walk around

Walking around the ‘Maggie’, it feels quite a large machine. It’s wingspan is near enough the same as its co-trainer, the Tiger Moth, at a couple of inches short of 34ft, but the all wooden, ply-covered wing is deeper, having a larger section (Clark YH) and the wing tips are high enough to lean, or rest your chin upon. Its wing area is 176 square feet and carries an all up weight of 1,900lb, giving a wing loading of 10.79lb per square foot. The originals were cleared for aerobatics at 1,845lb and the tare, or empty weight, is 1,286lb. The mainplane consists of the centre section, set at an incidence of one-and-ahalf degrees with no dihedral, but the two outer sections have six degrees dihedral. Hinged aft of the rear spar are five flap sections: one central, two on the inboard wing sections and a further two outboard.

The central section has been removed on some examples, and I guess this is for the same reason as for some like-minded Harvard operators hoping for greater control in crosswinds. The outboard ailerons are long, plywood skinned over 10 ribs, finished with cotton fabric. Cotton is used on the whole exterior finished through red, then silver dope (for UV protection) and finally the paint.

The aileron deflections are asymmetric, with significantly more up than down, 29 ½° to 9 ½°. This standard arrangement may help avert some adverse aileron drag to some extent, but the rudder will be needed for balance. Lead aileron mass balances are located toward the tips, concealed with neutral aileron but swing out from the wing undersurface as the aileron is raised, helping to prevent any control flutter.

The Magister uses a vacuum source for operating the flaps, with a tank located behind the cockpit charged from the lower end of the manifold. Curiously, it’s more efficient at low revs than at high power. The downside of the system for the training regime is that a fully charged system only lasts for three cycles in the circuit. A much-needed and innovative training aid, the inclusion of a flap system made students familiar with them before they moved to the monoplane fighters.

“The Magister uses a vacuum source for operating the flaps, with a tank located behind the cockpit charged from the lower end of the manifold”

pneumatic shock absorbers wrapped in slightly ‘Stuka’like spats. The fact that there are many photos of Maggies being flown without these fitted, makes me think they were a nuisance to remove/refit for servicing. The brakes are a Bendix type, operated by cable and cockpit lever.

This is mounted on the left-hand side of both cockpit floors and pre-dates the similar Chipmunk system. The Maggie has a set of two ratchet control levers connected by a tie rod. Only the front cockpit ratchet can set the tension. If the rudder bar is in the central position and the

Cockpits

The fuselage has two tandem cockpits, with the Instructor sitting behind the student. Oddly the two windscreens are completely different. The front windscreen is an angular three-panelled frame that serves as a crash pylon, while the rear one is simply a curved piece of plexiglass. On the right-hand side, a small door for each cockpit makes getting in much easier, and behind there’s a cavernous storage compartment.

Stepping in, the P8 compass is a sizeable obstruction, being on the extreme right of the panel and right by the entrance. Look around you and the obvious horizontal, verticals and diagonal wooden formers and their plywood biscuits frame the inner cockpit sides. Originally, the four straps of the Sutton harness, restrained by a threaded bolt and a triangular wire clasp called a ‘butterfly’, are sadly no longer available, so a modern buckled harness is fitted instead. Make sure that in your bulky Irvin jacket you don’t lose a strap – and that you are unable to see it – as the jacket collar pushes into your face as you twist to look down and find it. The throttle and inboard mixture lever are placed for your left hand and beneath these, the flap lever, as well as the floor mounted brake lever, all are within easy reach.

To operate the pneumatic flaps you slide the lever

Above A camouflaged trainer with clean lines, perfect for preparing trainees for the future fighters.

Below A large aft baggage space. The silver cylinder is the part of the vacuum operating system for the flaps.

forward for down, and once down the lever should be returned to neutral. To select up, slide the lever back, before returning it to neutral.

The left-hand side of the panel has the oil pressure gauge, the rpm gauge and the ASI in mph. Above are a pair of magneto switches. (The Magister manual refers to these as ‘ignition switches’). The prime panel position is filled by the large Reid and Sigrist turn and bank indicator and its indications will soon be very relevant when we are climbing away from the runway under full power. To the right is an ancient instrument found in some WWI aircraft.

It simply shows the angle of the aircraft relative to the horizon, if the nose is high the coloured liquid is above the middle mark and the nose low, the indication has a low level – you get the picture. A single needle altimeter is partially hidden behind that big P8 compass.

The fuel tap is under the panel on the right. Selected upright at 12 o’clock for both, and, 9 o’clock for the port tank, and 3 o’clock for the starboard tank. The 6 o’clock position is ‘Off’. There is a warning not to select the ‘Both Tanks’ position as an air lock may develop and prevent the flow of fuel. The contents gauges are wing mounted and each holds 10 imperial gallons (45 litres). According to the ATA notes for the Maggie, her Gipsy should be fuelled with 73 octane. We are lucky to have 91UL on hand at Henstridge.

Gosport tube

Instructor and student cockpit comms in the 1940s were via Gosport tubes. Rubber speaking cups and tubes linking the other pilot with his ear piece, rather like a stethoscope joined to a flying helmet. I haven’t ever used them when airborne and many years ago asked my father if you could really hear anything? His reply was not particularly precise, well, maybe it was… He paused and intoned, “Well, you knew the gist of what he was saying”, which was obviously good enough.

In 2022, a very practical Lynx intercom system has been fitted, and a Trig radio and transponder in the front cockpit. Not that you’d know it at first glance. The metal mounting plate is hinged below the lower edge of the panel and may be swung back under the panel out of sight making the Maggie’s cockpit look perfectly period.

The placement of the avionics in the front cockpit raises the point that this is now the cockpit to occupy should it be flown solo. The manual and many contemporary photographs of the aircraft in flight have the solo pilot in the rear cockpit. As our physical stature has grown, so has the average pilot’s weight and should the rear cockpit be used today, then countering weights would have to be placed in the front. The CofG range is from 29.3 to 34in aft of the datum marked 9in forward of the leading edge.

Another interesting point is that there is a master ignition switch in the front cockpit that can isolate the rear cockpit ignition switch, so as long as the front set of switches are up and the Master on, the engine will fire and run. I wonder if this was fitted after cases of crass students turning their rear set of mags off during flight? A modern Red Top lithium battery is located above the pilot’s right knee, and provides power for those modern avionics.

Rudder footwork

As mentioned earlier, the panel is dominated by a central

Above The front cockpit, complete with its discreet, fold-away avionics.

Left The rear cockpit, complete with Gosport tube at far left.

turn and slip, familiar to all of today’s Tiger Moth pilots. The upward pointing needle should be pointing to the middle mark of the dial to show that the aircraft is in balanced flight. If the needle is pointing out to the left, as in the case when power is increased and the nose swings to the right, then a gentle rudder pressure on the same side as the needle is pointing will bring the needle back to its central indication and the aircraft will be in balance. Too much left rudder and the needle will pass beyond the central upper mark and point to the right, requiring a lightening of foot pressure.

The lower needle on the instrument can almost be ignored for VFR flight as banking attitudes will be by external reference. However, the four numbered marks indicate rates of turn, the first being for a rate one turn (180° in one minute), then rate two and so on. Useful if you end up in poor visibility and want to get out of trouble by heading in the opposite direction.

These two instruments, there is one in each cockpit, are all driven by an under fuselage venturi. Walk back to the aeroplane 15 minutes after a flight and you can still hear them winding down.

Gipsy foibles

Unlike the Tiger Moth, but like the Chipmunk, the Gipsy is primed from the left /port. Instead of raising a cowling the opening of a small hatch allows the pulling of a priming wire connected to the Hobson carburettor ‘tickler’ mounted on the other side of the engine, while one of two

fuel pumps prime by a wiggling up and down of its small lever. A fiddly process, the reward is a stream of fuel that pees from the overflow. Call to the pilot ‘Mag switches off’ then suck the fuel in four or six blades depending on your ritual. This also confirms that there is no oil in the inverted cylinders. Of course all four compressions are sound, in fact I thought ‘stronger’ than normal. Later I learned the Gipsy 1C has a higher compression ratio of 6 to 1, more than I am used to swinging. ‘Fuel on, throttle set (cracked open) contact’. Both sets of mag’ switches, front and rear cockpits as well as the master ignition switch are all up and on. As the prop passes through the compression she fires. All is well, just use a warming wait of four minutes (six in the winter) and the power and mag' check with a 1,600rpm run up. The throttle is brought fully back to give a gentle tick over, the brake lever is engaged a third back for turning and the chocks are pulled. A series of gentle clearing ‘S’ turns follow so traffic may be avoided.

Accelerating for take-off, the swing to the right thanks to the Gipsy Major engine’s rotation can easily be held with some left rudder, while the tail wheel is on the ground, and as the tail comes up the additional gyroscopic swing to the right by the lowering prop’ disc is barely noticeable. She flies herself off and into ground effect gaining speed. Immediately everything felt right.

The smoothness, the trim, the control inputs – this is an aeroplane that makes you feel part of it. Kevin and Annabelle have certainly done a marvellous job of the restoration. Climbing out at 80 mph returned 900ft per min, and being used to Gipsys, I throttled back a tad from full power.

Setting the Magister up for straight and level, I set 1,900rpm, the rpm noted in the Air Transport Auxiliary notes that said should return 100mph. We got that, and

Below A very pretty rear three-quarter profile.

“As the tail comes up, the additional gyroscopic swing to the right by the lowering prop’ disc is barely noticeable”

Top Rolling away on a formation break reveals the conspicuous trainer yellow underneath.

Above Restorers

Kevin and Annie in typical pose… it’s a shame you can’t hear the constant banter between these two…

when with the flaps gave an equally reasonable 37mph. So the lower end of the scale was spot on. The stall behaviour at wings level no flap produced a slight warning buffet and a flattering wings level departure that could be smartly caught with stick forward and minimum height loss, whilst the stall with flap had more of a judder before its slight wing down objection, followed by standard recovery with stick forward.

Balanced flight with coordinated rudder and aileron is helped by the odd glance inside the cockpit to see the upward needle confirm or suggest correction, and by looking at the nose when applying aileron (and the seat of well-adjusted pants). Preventing any adverse aileron from yawing the nose away from a turn by keeping the nose in line with slight rudder pressure, she responds nicely!

She is also stable in pitch, directionally and laterally. Normally a steady heading sideslip would be used to investigate directional and lateral qualities, particularly at slow speed with flap down simulating the round out to land from a side slip. It’s in this flight regime that the training Magister experienced a number of fatalities. An unintended consequence, slipping approaches with flaps down allowed the flaps to blank the tail surfaces, leading to a

and cross controls was definitely to be avoided. It does bring forward the point that it is the qualities of the aeroplane being flown that should be exercised, a good stable approach may be flown with drag flap to arrive at the threshold without the need for employing a slip.

On the other hand, having tried a standard approach with flap down, a ‘clean’ one with flap up means the approach has to be pretty flat and commenced further out to gain a clear view of the first third of the runway, even from a clean glide. In fact 75 is slightly too fast, perhaps nearer 70 being about right.

With the flaps down, you’re over the hedge at the 60 mark, remembering the sight picture of the front cockpit and cowling against the horizon, the stick being fully back when we touched down. That particularly pleased me! A delightful end to a short investigative flight for which I must thank Richard, Annabelle and Kevin. A thoroughly enjoyable experience of an historic aircraft and an insight into its remarkable behaviour.

Following a reunion with the UK’s four other flying Magisters at Old Warden in mid-May, Richard then ferried her home to Czechia where he’s been enjoying sharing this beautifully restored machine since. Kevin meanwhile has returned to his Gipsy Moth project and Annie to rebuilding a Belgian SV4 Stampe. Me? Well, I’m eating my way through another packet of dark chocolate digestives… ■

MILES MAGISTER SPECIFICATIONS

General characteristics

Length 24ft 8in

Wingspan 33ft 10in

Wing area 176 sq ft

Empty Weight 1,286lb, Mtow 1,900lb

Useful load 606lb

Fuel capacity 20 imp gal

Power loading 14.3 lb/ hp

Engine Gipsy Major 1C 130hp

Performance

Vne 189mph

Cruise speed 122mph

Stall speed (full flap) 37mph (clean) 45mph

Range 319nm

Rate of Climb 850

Take-off distance (to 50ft) 1,200 ft (366 m)

Landing distance (over 50ft) 975 ft (297 m)

Service ceiling 16,500ft

Rolling your own…

In my last article we had a look at some of the reasons behind how and why we determine an estimated weight and balance, and determined the estimates on our Concept 3 aircraft. I have since had a play around with various combinations of pilot, fuel and baggage weights and determined that the geometry is working out OK for this design.

How so? Well, the worst forward case gave me a CofG position at 22% of the chord back from the leading edge, while the worst aft case gave me 32% which is sensible for a traditionally configured aircraft.

Detailed specification

I outlined in the April Issue the differences between a basic and detailed specification and that we will be populating our detailed spec this month. Something that needs to be done before we can continue towards making estimates on stability and aerodynamic loads.

To do this, I am going to cheat slightly. I have my scale drawing from which all the parameters can be taken to populate the LAAs own ‘Aircraft Data’ spreadsheet.

You don’t have to use this spreadsheet, but spreadsheets make otherwise monotonous calculations much quicker and considerably less soul destroying, should you find an error.

To find this spreadsheet, go to LAA Website>Main

menu>Engineering>Designing Aircraft> Preliminary Design>Aircraft Data Spreadsheet.

Should you wish to know what these calculations are and how they work, you can either reverse engineer the spreadsheet or buy a good aircraft design book, such as *Hiscock’s, which will show you how to calculate all these manually… I have done it this way in the past and it does get very repetitive, especially if you need to go back and alter something in the design causing the need to repeat everything, each time a change in geometry is made.

You can see the detailed specification in Figure 1. Note: more information will be added in later stages, such as airfoil data.

Stability analysis

Can we determine the exact stability of our design? Yes, but it involves quite a lot of complex calculations. You can do these if you wish, but quite a lot of very successful homebuilt designs have been developed without going to these lengths. Forthunately, we can get a good idea of the static stability using basic formulae and the information contained in the detailed specification. The LAA’s Aircraft Data spreadsheet will determine these for us, but if you’re curious, then here’s some more detail.

To determine the various coefficients, we will need some geometry data from our three-view. Figure 2

In part three of this occasional series, Mike Roberts thinks about stability, and makes some calculations…

Above A reminder of the general arrangement of Mike’s Concept 3 aircraft.

provides a simple illustration of what values we will need.

· Fin Volume Coefficient

Fin volume coefficient = (fin area x fin moment arm) / (wing area x wing span)

The best way I can describe this, is that it is an indication as to how much it wants to keep straight. The higher the value the more it wants to align itself with the oncoming airflow; the lower the value, the more it will

hunt, like an arrow or wind vane with too small a tail. We are looking for a value between 0.02 & 0.05. LAA’s Head of Flight Test, Andy Draper, once told me that during the development of the Europa, the original tall fin gave a very ‘stiff’ directional stability, so it had to be reduced in height by several inches – in other words, its fin volume coefficient was too high. You want the aeroplane to be reasonably stable so that it doesn’t need too much footwork to keep straight in normal flight, or in turns. But

Lv = Length to vertical tail (to the aerodynamic centre of the fin)

Lh = Length to Horizontal tail (as above, but for the tailplane)

Sv = Area of vertical tail

Sh = Area of horizontal tail

Figure 2

Figure 1

too much directional stability makes the aeroplane undesirably responsive to side gusts in flight, and very difficult to deal with in a crosswind landing, where the pilot has to purposely yaw the aeroplane just before touchdown to line up with the runway. Too much weathercock stability can even make it difficult to taxi across wind.

· Horizontal Tail Volume Coefficient

Tailplane volume coefficient = (tailplane area x tailplane moment arm) / (wing area x wing mean chord)

The tailplane volume coefficient is the equivalent to the fin volume coefficient, being a measure of the tailplane authority for the behaviour about the pitch axis. The two coefficients work out with very different values, however.

The fin volume coefficient is inevitably much smaller than the tailplane volume coefficient not only because the fin area is less than the tailplane area, but also because the ‘characteristic length’ divisor for the fin volume coefficient is the wing span whereas for the tailplane volume coefficient it’s the wing mean chord We are looking for a value between 0.3 & 0.6

If the value is too small, the aircraft will be unstable in pitch and be very sensitive to changes in CG. If your design has powerful flaps, you will probably find that you need a horizontal tail volume coefficient towards the upper end of the range to cope with the change in trim that you get when the flaps are extended.

Spiral Stability

After determining the tailplane and fin sizes for your design, to give you the right level of stability in pitch and yaw, the next thing to consider is the spiral stability, that is, the tendency to recover to wings-level if it gets banked over by a control input or gust. A spirally stable aircraft will almost immediately lift the depressed wing and resume level flight, while an unstable one, left to its own devices, will gradually increase in bank angle and would wind up in a tightening spiral dive if the pilot didn’t take notice and intervene first. The spiral stability is chiefly determined by the combination of the wing dihedral angle and the size of the fin, and also, whether the wing is mounted on the fuselage in the high or low position. The greater the fin area (or strictly, the fin volume ie fin area x

fin moment arm), the more dihedral angle is needed to achieve a particular level of spiral stability.

The dihedral angle produces lateral stability which is generally a good thing, but it does tend to erode the control authority in roll. Hence zero dihedral in combination with a large fin gives good results in something like an Extra 300 where aerobatic manoeuvrability is most important and spiral stability isn’t a problem because the pilot is very much ‘hands on’ throughout. At the other end of the scale, generous dihedral suits an aircraft intended for touring or gentle pottering. Avoid a lot of dihedral in combination with a small fin size, as this configuration is prone to so-called ‘Dutch Roll’, where the aircraft tends to oscillate in combined roll and yaw in a fidgety fashion. Choosing the ideal dihedral angle for your design could fill a book, but as a basic rule of thumb, if your design has essentially unswept wings and a typical layout then if you use between zero and two degrees dihedral on a high winger, and between three and five degrees with a low wing, and use the higher end of the ranges if you want a more stable platform, then you won’t be far out. For an all-out aerobatic low or mid-wing machine you might choose to have no dihedral at all. Remember though that an optical illusion always makes a high wing with no dihedral look ‘droopy’, it needs a degree or so to look ‘right’.

Controls free

For the volume coefficients, the LAA spreadsheet assumes the area of the rudder and elevator as part of the equations, this gives a ‘fixed stick and pedal’ value. If we wanted to get an idea of ‘hands off’ stability, remove the added control surface areas in the equations and just use the fixed elements. This gets tricky if it’s a flying stabilator or fin, as seen on the Europa or VP1, which generally use anti-servo tabs to make them behave part-way between a fully fixed and a fully free surface. The Tiger Moth is an example of a type, which because it has a large rudder and small fin, is directionally quite stable ‘feet on’ the pedals, but if you remove your feet from the pedals in a full power climb, the ball will move to one side as the aeroplane diverges in yaw of its own accord.

Choosing safe values for our coefficients puts us in the

Figure 3

right ballpark and we can be pretty sure that given a sensible CG position our design should fly well enough right off of the bat, and if necessary the design can be finessed during flight testing based upon the opinions of experienced test pilots. If you are designing something that is a little unusual and not of a traditional configuration, then the above formulae won’t work without making some adjustments.

While I have more than enough faith in my design’s stability based on the values I have calculated, I may also build a 20% scale Radio Control (R/C) model to give further confidence. An R/C model aids in determining a CG range as well as control surface deflections – but do remember, because its control surfaces are connected rigidly to servos, rather than free to find their own position in the airflow, an R/C model enjoys enhanced ‘stick fixed’ stability compared to its full-size counterpart.

Rather than build an R/C model, you could do this equally well if you ran multiple CFD (computational fluid dynamics) simulations or perhaps used flight simulation software like X-Plane. Did you know that NASA and Lockheed frequently build sub-scale demonstrators as they are often cheaper than large wind tunnel models? All these methods to boost faith are possibly overkill in such a normal configuration of aircraft as we are contemplating in this series, and possibly just an excuse to build another R/C model…

Concept 3 Stability

From our detailed specification, we can use the formulae mentioned prior to plug in the variables and see what we get (Figure 3).

· Pitch Stability Plugging in the variables for Horizontal

Tail volume gives us a value of 0.60 which is a sensible number. If this was too large or too small then I would need to make changes to the tailplane or the tail moment arm, which would mean adjusting my three-view, weight and balance and detailed specification. For now, though, the value of 0.60 should work fine.

makes it not as effective at a straight fin such as those found on an RV or Eurofox. In other words, sweepback of the fin will promote spanwise (or fin-wise flow), which will reduce the lift curve slope of the fin, so we’ll need more area to compensate.

Remember what I said earlier about these accepted ranges of coefficients relating usually to ‘stick fixed’? The coefficients I attained assume that the elevator and rudder are fixed in position. So hands-off, the values would actually be less, giving less stability. If my coefficients had turned out towards the bottom end of the accepted range, and / or my design had particularly large control surfaces in relation to the fixed fin and tailplane, then I would probably do another design iteration to get my design into a more stable configuration, rather than risk it being dangerously unstable.

Beware of the aft CofG trap, where your aeroplane turns out with an aft CofG, which tends to make it unstable. You could cure this with a bigger tailplane, but of course that would move the CofG even further back, which would then require a bigger tail still… If in doubt, remember it’s much easier to cure a CofG that’s too far forward than one that’s too far aft.

Looking ahead

I really want to show how an amateur designer might go about designing an aircraft. These articles account for just a few per cent of the total effort put into this design, and the word count for the articles means it’s a question of knowing what to include and what to leave out.

So you know where all this is headed, Figure 4 currently shows how far I have got. The design is actually very nearly finished, and all my calculations need to be taken from the notepad to a more professional looking report. I will be covering some of the loads and stressing in a future article, and anticipate the next one to cover airfoil selection and performance estimates. If there is a particular element of the detailed stressing work that you are interested in or want to see, email the editor, let him know and I’ll try to include it.

· Directional Stability

It is calculated that the fin volume coefficient is 0.06. This is actually quite high for a fin that, to me, looks slightly on the small side. However, I won’t change this because of the significant fin sweep, which

Finally, I’d like to thank Francis Donaldson for casting a wise eye over this article. ■

*Hiscocks: This refers to the excellent paperback book Design of Light Aircraft by Richard D Hiscocks

Figure 4

Coaching Corner…

Threats and Errors – how do we manage them?

Head of Coaching David Cockburn follows up on his earlier article about Threat and Error Management (TEM), with some thoughts on its practical application

In the May issue, I wrote a piece on TEM. This prompted some discussion, and the suggestion that I should describe its practical application, partly for the benefit of our Coaches. So here goes!

Recently I have been helping a pilot become familiar with operating his single-engine aeroplane from a strip in the hills. Although working from such a field was not new to me, having to teach someone else required a much more detailed consideration of threats and errors. I had to consider not only those which I was used to encountering, but also those which might appear when someone else was flying the aircraft. What’s more, I would have to try to teach what I was considering.

The strip was close to the brow of a hill, aligned mainly uphill/downhill with a gradient of about 2%, with a hedge at one end and an unobstructed progressively steepening downslope into a valley at the other. For simplicity let’s say it lay east-west with the hedge at the western end. To the south of the strip the ground was relatively level, while beyond the north edge of the strip it sloped quite steeply downwards. A major airport lay to the east, surrounded by its control zone, and the altitude of the base of its control Area and airways varied over a considerable distance around the strip.

We could list many potential threats from just these facts, but considering them all would take a lot of time. For example, different wind directions and strengths would present different threats. What I had to do was think, and encourage the pilot to think, about what particular problems we might encounter in the conditions which we were faced with on each take-off and landing. There was no point in worrying about what might go wrong on a different day.

Of course, the weather wasn’t the only consideration when considering potential threats. The aircraft performance was not ideal for the strip. While it could easily take-off and land on a flat, hard runway in the distance available in nil wind, the length and condition of the grass would affect the actual take-off distance, as would the slope and the softness of the surface. The size of the fin area would affect control on the ground, and the response of the flying controls at different speeds would affect controllability in crosswinds, and also in turbulence once airborne.

As one might expect, we needed to consider the threat that the engine would fail to produce its expected power. However, even the shape of the ground presented a possible threat. Pilots are taught to select attitudes and maintain them to obtain the performance they expect from their aeroplane. Surrounding hills presented a fluctuating

horizon, so attitude judgement was made more difficult. And so, having considered threats, the potential errors needed to be taken into account. Human factors training suggests that even an experienced trainee’s capacity for learning is limited, and that misunderstandings will occur, so the instructor always has to be ready for the pilot to do something inappropriate at the least convenient time. That inconvenient time, and the most inappropriate action, would vary with the conditions in force.

As an example of the TEM considerations required, let us imagine a day when an active trough has recently passed the strip. The surface wind is 315/12kt gusting 18.

There is no point in taking off if we are unable to land, so it is logical to always consider the landing first, and that includes returning home if we plan to land away. On this occasion the forecast suggests a landing uphill. The crosswind would be close to the aircraft’s capabilities, but manageable for ground handling, take-off and landing, so if we use the correct techniques it should be safe to fly, although gusts and turbulence are likely, as the wind curls over the top of the slope. An increase in approach speed would be advisable, and the slope will avoid any problems with stopping after touchdown. However, there is always the threat that the forecast is wrong, or something blocks the runway, so we need to identify an alternate landing field with a runway more suited to the wind. We also need to know how to get there and carry enough fuel to reach it.

Our example flight involves general handling in the local area, which reduces the number of likely threats. It is always a good idea to operate upwind of the intended landing area, because we should be between any approaching bad weather and our destination, although we must consider the possibility of a CuNim developing behind us. That direction in this case takes us away from the CTR and the lowest of the bases of the controlled airspace, so if we stay below the lowest of the varying bases to the west we should avoid infringing it.

The wind favours taking off towards the hedge, but the recent showers have encouraged the grass to grow, and softened the surface. The aircraft handbook contains no performance details, so we have to rely on previous experience to determine whether the take-off and landing distances available are sufficient.

That previous experience is important, but must be appropriate. If we, or a previous pilot, have measured the distance the aeroplane used to reach a safe height (50ft) in similar conditions, that can be used as a basis which we can relate to in future. However, if these figures were

obtained with only one person on board, we should remember, for example, that the CAA’s SafetySense leaflet 7 tells us that another occupant adds 20% to the take-off distance and 10% to the landing distance required. Once airborne, possible turbulence might suggest we should add five knots to our best climbing speed when close to the ground, so we don’t want to cut it fine.

Whether the distance seems adequate or not, we should always have a ‘stop point’ nominated for every take-off.

There is more than one way of deciding on that stop point, but if the aircraft hasn’t reached 2/3 of its lift-off speed before passing a ground feature about 1/3 of the way along the available distance, I suggest the take-off should be abandoned. That stop point is unlikely to vary with the conditions, so can be selected in advance for each runway, ideally by walking the strip (which will also help identify soft ground or molehills), and perhaps marking it obviously. If the lift-off IAS is 45kt, we need 30kt by the stop point.

If we find it impossible to take-off uphill, what if we were to take-off in the opposite direction? SafetySense leaflet 7 tells us that a 2% up slope increases our take-off distance by 10%. The tailwind component on the other runway will also increase the distance required, possibly by 40%, but in this case there is no hedge, and beyond the strip end the surface is smooth. The downslope should allow us to accelerate to a safe climbing speed, again considering the turbulence, once we have lifted off.

Engine failure threat…

However, we have to remember that getting off the ground safely is only part of the requirement. The threat of an engine failure is ever present. An into-wind take-off should allow a forced landing ahead at a ground speed, which should make even a crash survivable. If we take-off downwind, a forced landing ahead is unlikely to be survivable. Remember that road safety advert: “Hit me at 30 and I live, hit me at 40 and I die”? If we abandon a downwind downhill take-off it will also be difficult to control our direction and require a lot of ground to stop.

However, as it happens the slope at the end of the strip is steeper than the aircraft’s glide angle. It also curves gently left through about 120°, opening out into a valley with fields, which allow an almost into-wind landing in the event of a failure. A downwind take-off is therefore a possibility. Whichever we decide, the pre-take-off ‘eventualities’ briefing that we give ourselves ought to consider the situation at the time. For example, for an into-wind take-off it may go like this: “If anything unusual happens during the take-off run, or if we haven’t reached 30kt before we pass that tall tree (previously calculated stop point), I shall close the throttle and apply the brakes to stop. If we’re airborne and the engine isn’t giving enough power, I shall lower the

nose, achieve 60kt (approach speed) and land on what’s left of the strip or aim for a clear area ahead or slightly right (towards the wind).”

Some pilots might like to add things to this brief like trying to restart, or switching off the magnetos and the fuel and calling ‘Mayday’, but I don’t at this stage. I believe we should concentrate on handling, because hopefully that will not only mitigate the failure risk, but also manage the possible fatal error of losing control, while concentrating on matters of less immediate importance.

So the threats have been considered and we have decided how we can mitigate the risks (although there’s always something we miss). Before we commit ourselves to action, however, we need to consider other possible errors.

Is the pilot competent (and current) in crosswind take-offs and landings? If not, as the instructor, I ought to brief carefully beforehand, and keep my hands and feet close to the controls ready to take over. If the pilot is inexperienced or conditions are really awkward, perhaps I should demonstrate rather than let him struggle. (If I don’t think I can fly a good demonstration we shouldn’t be flying!)

Remembering the difficulty in selecting appropriate attitudes, I shall have to emphasise the need to maintain the correct airspeed, and the need to select what appears to be an apparently stupidly low nose attitude once airborne, while the aircraft accelerates to climb speed. That will be particularly important if we take-off downhill, because not only will the air be sinking, but the pilot will be tempted to raise the nose at a familiar ground speed which will be higher than his airspeed.

The downhill take-off, and the wind, would take us closer to the control zone, so after take-off we should need to turn away from it early. However, we could also mitigate the risk of an infringement by obtaining a clearance before take-off, by telephone if we are below the radio line-of-sight.

We have planned our operating altitude to be below the airspace base. However, human factors tell us that during a training flight the crew can become distracted by the training, and altitude maintenance may suffer. We may even have taken off with an incorrect QNH, so can we alleviate this possible error? If our aircraft, or a personal device, has an electronic altitude warning system (preferably audible), we could set that before take-off to a suitable level, but otherwise set up and maintain radio contact with ATC, telling them what we want to do. At any rate, a transponder with altitude readout (Mode C or Mode S) would reduce the hazard we would present to other aircraft, if we entered controlled airspace without clearance.

I’m sure I’ve missed quite a few obvious threats and errors, so if you spot something I missed, pass them on via the Editor and your thoughts on how to manage them. No prizes, but keen to open discussion! ■

Above Threats and the risk of errors exist in all aspects of our flying.

The latest LAA Engineering topics and investigations. Compiled by Jerry Parr

Engineering Matters

Including: Undercarriage strut corrosion, clarification of ‘600kg microlight’ definition, plus advice to help HQ with a speedy Permit revalidation

Welcome to ‘Engineering Matters’ – the section of Light Aviation that is dedicated to discussing all manner of topics concerning both technical and operational aspects of the LAA fleet. If you have anything to say that you think would benefit others, then please email words and pictures to LAA Engineering at engineering@laa.uk.com

Piper Cub main landing gear strut corrosion

Piper J3C Cub owner, Philip Whiteman, has reported that he was shocked to find severe corrosion on one of his aircraft’s main undercarriage struts.

The aircraft was undergoing a thorough inspection after a period out of the air, and when inspecting the undercarriage and servicing the wheels and brakes, some serious corrosion on the underside of the port bungee strut was discovered.

Philip said that from the usual viewpoint when carrying out the pre-flight checks, the undercarriage looked fine. The starboard strut appears sound, but that one has also been taken off for inspection.

It is thought that the port undercarriage is original to the aircraft, which was built in 1944. The components were inspected and refinished in two-pack paint 1994/95 and there was no sign of corrosion when the struts were removed for bungee replacement in 2003. The aeroplane lives in a dry, well-ventilated hangar and has

LAA Inspector Ray Harper has highlighted an issue discovered recently on a Pioneer 300 during the Permit to Fly revalidation annual inspection. The brackets, which attach the over-centre side brace to the main spar box, are retained in place by set screws which have backed out allowing the bracket

been in the family a long time, so its maintenance and inspection history is well known.

With undercarriages, being close to the ground, they can suffer from stone damage and other forms of surface finish erosion, mud accumulation when operating away from tarmac, as well as contamination from hydraulic braking systems. Add to that the possibility of struts corroding internally, and the chances of corrosion and other defects are pretty high.

to move away from the main spar. Although one would hope that this was a fairly simple problem to rectify, it required the wing to be removed to access the screws.

Retractable undercarriage systems on light aircraft are inherently complicated affairs that require regular inspection, maintenance and lubrication. The operation of the system should be routinely checked

with the aircraft up on jacks. Not only is this vital to ensure the system’s correct operation, but is also a good opportunity for owners to understand how the system functions (get someone to operate it while you watch from a safe distance), and have a chance to get familiar with any emergency lowering systems. Once an emergency system has been used, it’s wise to carry out a further two or three normal retractions and extensions, to ensure everything has been ‘reset’.

If it’s an electrically powered system, if at all possible, use ground power to save the aircraft’s battery, or charge the battery up afterwards.

Above left The subject aircraft. It’s been in the family for a long time.

Pioneer 300 main undercarriage

The starboard undercarriage strut appears to be in good condition.

The port undercarriage leg showing the area of corrosion.

Pioneer 300 with the correctly attached bracket.

Pioneer 300 undercarriage over-centre side brace attachment bracket as found, no longer secured to the main spar.

LAA Engineering housekeeping

G-INFO/LAA PO Box redirecting service renewals The facility to use the LAA PO Box number address has been in place for over a year. If you are a user of this service, please remember to reapply (and pay) for another year via the LAA online shop.

For new applications, please read the notes – we require both an application form to be submitted as well as the money!

600kg ‘Microlights’ With the recent advent of the 600kg microlight definition, owners are reminded that the rules do not automatically apply to any existing aircraft: your aircraft will continue to be classified (either as a microlight or a fixed-wing landplane) as before and with the same maximum weight as shown on your aircraft’s Operating Limitations document.

For instance, if your microlight was originally approved at 450kg maximum weight, you cannot operate above this weight unless LAA Engineering has re-issued the Operating Limitations to show a higher weight.

The new rules were designed to apply to new types evaluated against an updated airworthiness code, although there is some scope for us to re-classify some aircraft of types that straddle the divide – in this case a mod application is needed for us to evaluate the request and update the aircraft’s documentation.

FWR-1 Permit to fly revalidation applications Thank you for bearing with us during the traditional peak season of Permit to Fly revalidations. For applications that have been accurately completed, we are still managing to turn them around within a few days of receipt.

Where applications raise queries, these take time for us to contact owners and applicants in order for us to resolve the issues before the Permit to Fly can be revalidated. Please do not forget to thoroughly check the form before sending it in – it is surprising to see just how many come in with sections left blank or the front page unsigned.

Just like with a car MOT, you can apply for a Permit to Fly revalidation up to a month before expiry and the check flight can be done before the inspection.

This means that with some planning (and cooperation from the weather) you can get the application to LAA Engineering with plenty

LAA Engineering charges

LAA Project Registration

Kit Built Aircraft £300

Plans Built Aircraft £50

Initial Permit issue

Up to 450kg £450

451-999kg £550

1,000kg and above £650

Permit Revalidation

(can now be paid online via LAA Shop)

Up to 450kg £170

451-999kg £220

1,000kg and above £260

Factory-built gyroplanes* (all weights) £275

*Gyros note: if the last Renewal wasn’t administered by the LAA, an extra fee of £125 applies

Modification application

Prototype modification minimum £60

Repeat modification minimum £30

Transfer

(from C of A to Permit or CAA Permit to LAA Permit)

of time to resolve any queries that might arise. We are looking at ways to help spread the peak workload for us and to make things easier for all involved, but please note that we cannot (yet) accept scanned copies of the application form.

Other thoughts concerning Permit to Fly revalidations

Open Mods If a modification has been applied for, it speeds up Permit to Fly revalidation applications immensely, if owners and Inspectors remember to add a note on page three of the FWR-1, confirming the status of the mod. If this is not done, then we have to contact the owner and Inspector to check on the mod status.

The Permit to Fly cannot be revalidated once the aircraft has been modified (even if the mod is not complete) and it should not be flown either unless LAA Engineering has confirmed otherwise.

Up to 450kg

451 to 999kg

and above

Four-seat aircraft

Aircraft Document Check

There continues to be a large number of errors recorded on the FWR-1 Aircraft Document Check.

In theory, this section should be completed by the Inspector, once the Operating Limitations document has been compared to the installed engine and propeller (and placards).

This physical check is to ensure that the engine and propeller are the same as specified in the aircraft’s Operating Limitations document (or, in the case of propellers, as listed on the PTL/1 list). This means that if all is in order, the recorded engine and propeller designations should be exactly the same as found on the Operating Limitations document.

Check Flight The take-off weight for the Permit to Fly revalidation check flight should be in excess of 90% of the MTWA for the aircraft, as this makes aircraft performance monitoring more meaningful.

Additionally, the centre of gravity at take-off should be within the limits stated in the aircraft’s Operating Limitations document and use the same datum as specified – and please include the units of measurement, not a percentage of MAC, unless that is what is used in the Operating Limitations document.

It is surprising just how many applications are received with a centre of gravity that is outside limits and the incorrect ‘forward of datum’ or ‘aft of datum’ stated. ■

Recent Alerts & AILs

Please note the Engineering section of the LAA website has the most current information.

LAA TSB: TSB-001-2022

Applicability: All Europa aircraft

Europa: Door latch system stop

CAA MPD: 2022-003

Manufacturer’s/agent’s type acceptance fee £2,000

Project registration royalty £50

Category change

Group A to microlight £150

Microlight to Group A

Change of G-Registration fee

Issue of Permit documents following G-Reg change £55

Replacement Documents

Lost, stolen etc (fee is per document)£20

PLEASE NOTE: When you’re submitting documents using an A4-sized envelope, a first-class stamp is insufficient postage.

LAA AIL: MOD/247/012

LAA Alert: LAA/AWA/21/08

Note: CAA MPD 2022-003 has now been corrected as of 22 June 2022

MT-PROPELLER ENTWICKLUNG GmbH

Applicability: MTV-( ) Variable Pitch Propellers

Subject: Propeller Blade Lag Screw Replacement

EASA AD 2022-0134

Note: Please see the MT Propeller TADS P17 link to the ‘EASA AD Safety Publishing Tool’ for further info.

SLING

Applicability: All Sling aircraft types and serials

Subject: Eyebolt inspection and conditional replacement Sling Service Bulletin #0020

Note: It has been found that the eyebolts fitted in the control system of certain Sling aircraft may fail to meet the manufacturer’s specification in regard to fatigue life. Such eyebolts are identifiable by the narrowness of the neck of the eyebolt above the bolt thread. This service bulletin details the procedures for inspection and replacement of such eyebolts in the various control systems.

LAA’s Navy Wings

Neil Wilson heads to RNAS Yeovilton and finds a fleet of vintage aircraft with LAA connections…

Over the years of interviewing people for LA’s Meet The Members column, I have been lucky enough to meet all sorts of people who have been involved with many aspects of British aviation. This has included pilots, restorers, engineers, homebuilders, agents, and suppliers, plus members who help keep British aviation history alive. One such organisation is Navy Wings, which is based at Royal Navy Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset.

A charity was formed called Fly Navy Heritage Trust, and The Navy Wings Heritage Flight was born from the

Above Jim Norris and Bruce Ellis –both LAA members.

Below left Swordfish LS326.

Below right Swordfish LS326 undergoing maintenance.

previously known Royal Navy Historic Flight. The charity has been successful in generating revenue, and can now stand on its own two feet, which has released it from being under the MOD, and the more strict government limitations of part-funding and restrictions. Consequently, this has given it a much more promising future. In addition, to help funds, a weekly lottery takes place, as well as an online shop, with many items for sale, from a Sea Harrier engine compressor disc clock to clothing and smaller gifts.

The aim is to preserve Britain’s great naval aviation heritage. It relies on public donations to support its work

Lee Howard

in maintaining, presenting and flying an unrivalled collection of historic naval aircraft. The charity’s objectives are to educate, inspire and remember the history of the people, aeroplanes and actions taken by The Fleet Air Arm and Royal Navy, such as the Battle of Taranto and the Battle of the Atlantic, in which Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers played such a large part in both. The aeroplanes are now being operated under the CAA or LAA Permit, depending on type.

LAA and Wessex Strut member, Jim Norris, was appointed the new Chief Engineer in early 2020 to help manage the transition from the old regime to the new.

Although hampered by the Covid pandemic, Jim has reshaped and set about building a new core team of six engineers, who between them have both military and civil backgrounds, and who will be challenged to maintain and rebuild the current and future fleet of aeroplanes.

Jim’s own background is as a former Air Engineer Officer in the Fleet Air Arm, where he worked on Sea Harrier and Lynx Squadrons. He then left the Navy in 2009 and worked as an airworthiness and air safety specialist in the defence industry, on such programmes as the F-35 fighter and the new early warning P-8 Poseidon aircraft. Jim has his own Tiger Moth which he based at Henstridge Airfield (itself a satellite base to Yeovilton during the war) for a number of years, before moving it to Yeovilton.

Navy Wings employees consist of both full-time and part-time employed staff, contractors and volunteers. One such person is recently appointed LAA Inspector Bruce Ellis. I first met Bruce seven years ago when he had completed the restoration of Hawker Hurricane AG244 at Thruxton, which was finished in an all silver scheme (known as the Rhodesian Hurricane) for owner Phil Lawton, and was featured in the LAA magazine by test flight pilot Clive Davidson. Bruce holds a CAA licence which has enabled him to work on many types of aeroplanes. He particularly enjoys working on wood and fabric aeroplanes, which is of course a good fit with the fleet of types now under the Navy Wings remit.

More engineers are employed to look after the fleet, including Mark Wilson, Nick Bailes and Chris Hurford, who is a former Boscombe Down apprentice and used to work in America for warbird operator, The Collings Foundation. Chris holds an FAA licence, which means he has the correct credentials to maintain the Stinson Reliant, which is used for communications as well as ferrying crews around the country.

One thing that Jim is conscious of is that younger blood needs to be brought into the flight. Ashley Rollett, 23, joined in the spring of 2021 following an

apprenticeship at Britten Norman and worked as an avionics specialist at Bournemouth Avionics. Ashley mostly looks after avionics, but is now adding fabric covering and other crafts to his skills.

Other volunteers come in and give their time to rebuilding and maintenance, some ex-Navy maintainers, which brings added experience and skills.

This cross section of engineering skills are called for as the group now operate or look after a diverse array of

Above 1988 flashback - Jim Norris in Chipmunk WK608.

Top Stinson Reliant.

Above Stinson Reliant undergoing maintenance.

Below Ashley Rollett learning fabric skills on Chipmunk control surfaces.

Lee Howard

aircraft. These include recently donated Seafire SX336, which came via Kennet Aviation, two Fairey Swordfish aircraft, LS326 and W5856, Sea Fury VR930, Harvard G-NWHF, Sea Hawk WV908, which has just returned to Yeovilton from Shawbury to be restored to flight, Westland Wasp XT420, and Chipmunk WK608, which transferred to an LAA Permit to fly in June 2021 under the supervision of Charlie Huke. This aircraft is now used for currency training and communication flights. Coincidentally Jim Norris flew this very aeroplane in 1988 when it was based at Britannia Royal Navy College at Dartmouth. Another

Top Supermarine Seafire SX336.

Above Swordfish W5856.

Below Sea Fury VR930 over Navy Wings base at RNAS Yeovilton.

Chipmunk, WB657, is being restored to fly again as a Permit aircraft.

All of these aircraft bring opportunities and problems, not least the Bristol Centaurus-powered Sea Fury FB.11. I think everyone who has seen and heard this aeroplane fly, loves the sound of the engine. Unfortunately though, the biggest challenge to continued safe operation is that the original specification of lubricating oil is now unavailable which, combined with the sheer complexity of this sleeve-valve equipped engine, makes them very difficult to operate. Very big bills follow an engine failure, and this has occurred a few times over the years, so there are three choices: carry on, but risk another failure, re-engine with a Pratt and Whitney or stop flying the aircraft. Not easy decisions, but I think the time has come to re-engine, as no organisation should have to keep spending lots of time and money for limited reward. The same can be said for the de Havilland Sea Vixen, which is also resident in their hangar. Big, complex, and still needing funding for repairs following a gear-up landing.

It’s a difficult challenge, deciding between the complex types and the ones that are easier to operate, when trying to tell the FAA story to future generations.

The flight also has some aircraft on the fleet that are known as associate aeroplanes. These belong to private owners, but are loaned or flown at displays to help tell the story of Navy Wings when needed or available. These include well-known LAA aeroplanes such as Bristol Scout 1264 owned by David and Rick Bremner and Theo Willford, Avro 504K owned by Eric Verdon-Roe, two Tiger Moths restored by Kevin Crumplin, and an Avro-Curtiss Waterbird that is undergoing flight testing.

To fly this diverse range of machines you need a selection of pilots with diverse skills. Luckily, with plenty of experienced pilots in the Yeovilton area who are currently on fast jets, helicopters and GA types that is not a problem. All are volunteer pilots. To give a few examples, Chief Pilot is Andrew ‘Mum’ Davis who is originally from Australia, flew Australian Navy maritime Grumman Tracker aeroplanes, but came to the UK on a RN exchange posting. Andrew flew the Sea Harrier before joining Virgin Airways.

LAA member Alistair McLaren flies the Seafire. Alistair is ex-British Airways where he flew the 737/747 and City

Lee Howard

Lee Howard

Lee Howard

Express Embraer aircraft. Another LAA man is Steve ‘Skips’ Collier who flew for the Navy for 29 years, including Westland Wessex helicopters (where he spent some time flying the Royal family around), and also flew Sea Harriers.

Steve wears a ‘Sea Harrier Survivor’ badge on his overalls, having had to eject from one in 1984 when a bird struck at low level. Steve flies many of the Flight’s aeroplanes, including the beautiful yellow Stinson Reliant.

Navy Wings long-termer Chris Götke AFC, recently joined LAA to start building a Van’s RV-7. Chris started as a volunteer pilot, displaying the Sea Hawk during 2005/06, before converting onto the Sea Fury ready for the 2007 display season. He became Commanding Officer of the Royal Navy Historic Flight in 2013 and held that role until 2018. Chris now flies Hawks for 736 Squadron based at RNAS Culdrose, but continues to volunteer to fly for Navy Wings. Chris was awarded the Air Force Cross in 2015 for his handling of an engine failure in Sea Fury VX281 that took place at RNAS Culdrose Air day in 2015.

Their latest recruit is LAA member Steve Daniels, who flew as a Qualified Helicopter Instructor, before becoming a test pilot at US Navy base, Patuxent River. Steve went on to fly with British firm QinetiQ at Boscombe Down. He will be one of the Wasp pilots this year, giving displays around the UK airshow scene. Steve also fly’s a Jodel and an Evans VP-1 out of Boscombe.

With such a strong line-up of talent, I think it is great that a part of Britain’s aviation history is in good hands and is looking forward to a brighter and more certain future. You can see the Navy Wings aircraft and team members at airshows and fly-ins around the country, and if you would like to help support its activities, then you can donate or join in with its weekly lottery by visiting www.navywings.org.uk

● With thanks to Jim Norris, Rob Jones, Louise Evans and Lee Howard (air-to-air photos). ■

Above top Chipmunk WK608.

Above left Another Chipmunk.under rebuild.

Above right The Sea Fury’s Bristol Centaurus radial.

Above Chris Gotke, plans to start his own RV build soon.

Lee Howard

Wise up to woodworking

Measuring and marking out

Ideally you will have 6, 12, 24 and 36in steel rules. The quality of these rules can vary enormously. I was tempted to buy three 6in rules as the price was so low – and I should have known better. One look and they went straight in the bin. The first 1/32in was missing completely!

So, spend a little more and get an easily read quality product.

I always check a new rule to ensure that it is telling the same story as the others.

You will also need a tape measure – a five metre tape is ample.

Use an HB pencil to mark wood and plywood, as it will not bleed through covering as a ballpoint pen will. A craft knife is another good way of marking as it gives a very defined boundary line, but obviously it can’t be used for any lines within the piece. Squares, large and small, are

In part two, Dudley Pattison shares more secrets of building with wood. This time, taking a look at measuring, marking and cutting…

useful. My most used square is about 2in x 3in as not many components are wider than three inches.

The squares are always worth checking. Place it on a straight edge of a table or bench and draw a line. Turn it over and it should, of course, be parallel with the line. I bought two small steel squares recently and, on checking, found one of them to be out. As the blade was merely an interference fit in the base it was easy to put in a vice and tap the blade with a hammer to get it right.

Beware of the dreaded accumulative error. That occurs when marking, for instance, rib positions along a spar. From the datum, usually the spar root end, let’s say the first rib is at 12in, then it is 18in to the next rib and all the rest out to the tip. Rather than measuring rib to rib, each rib position is calculated from the datum so the measurements you use will be 12in, 30in, 48in, 66in etc.

This means that when you place your pencil and mark off if you are slightly out the inaccuracy will only ever be that much, whereas if you measure from rib to rib all the way along, and your small inaccuracy is always on the same side of correct, they will all add up and become a greater inaccuracy. From this, don’t think that an aircraft has got to be super accurate. It hasn’t. But if you aim for perfection, you are more likely to be in the right field at the end of the job than if you were a little slapdash.

While we are talking about spars you may well have eight of them, four wing panels with front and rear spars.

You don’t want the job of measuring out eight separately, so when your first one is done, use it as a pattern, clamp another spar to it flush with the datum, and use a square to transfer your rib positions to it. It may be worth saying here that this would not be a place to use a craft knife to mark out!

Cutting

One of the most useful tools in the workshop is the bandsaw. They can range in price from less than £100 to £1,000s. A small three-wheel saw, with a throat of around 12in is adequate, a larger one, with two larger wheels, is better, but will be more expensive. The disadvantage of the small three-wheeled saw is the small diameter of its wheels, because they are small is the reason there are three of them, the third one to the side pushes the blade out to allow the 12in throat. Why is that a disadvantage?

Every time the blade covers one ‘circuit’ the blade is flexed through a larger angle than if it was running around big wheels, and it is being flexed three times per circuit rather than two. This leads to fatigue in the weakest point of the blade, the welded join. So, on the saws with small wheels, it is relatively rare to junk a blade because it has gone blunt, it normally breaks far sooner than that.

Note that a bandsaw is not ideal for ripping down timber. Not only does it leave a poor finish, it will also follow the path of least resistance, which is wandering off and following some softer grain instead of the intended path. If you do rip with it, slow the feed rate down to snail pace.

Setting up a bandsaw

Inside your saw, when you take off the front cover, it is usual that there is a guide to each side of the blade, and a thrust bearing to the rear of the blade, above and below the table. The set of guides above will be attached to the blade guard that can be raised and lowered. Slacken these guides and move them clear of the blade. The top wheel is usually the one that allows the tracking of the blade to be adjusted. On the back of the saw, behind the top wheel there will be an adjustment for the ‘tilt’ of the top wheel. Ensure that your hands are well out of the way – it makes it more difficult to build an aircraft with fingers missing! Check the blade tension – the blade does not want to be slack, nor very taut. Turn on the saw and check that it runs on the centre line of the top wheel. If it doesn’t, slowly adjust the tilt until it does. The chances are that you will never have to adjust that again.

With the blade running centrally on the wheels, turn the saw off. Adjust the side guides to have about a 15thou (0.3mm) gap between the guide and the blade and the same for the rear (thrust) guides, these guides will be hardened steel on a budget machine and possibly roller bearings on a higher quality machine.

Put the front cover back on. The last thing to do is to check that the blade is cutting square to the table. The chances are that the manufacturer has given you the option to tilt the table to carry out an angled cut by making the table tiltable. I think I have utilised this feature once in the 20-year life of my little saw. The easiest way to do this is with a small square and make sure you lock it well when in position.

Above The smallest of squares can be the most used. Always check they are true, though!

Above The ballpoint pen is the villain of the piece here. Do not use one on wood.

Above A selection of steel rulers, Squares, pencils and knives are required for marking out.

Razor saw

Very useful for cutting components in-situ without straining the structure. The secret of sawing is to always have at least three teeth in the cut. Imagine a carpenter’s handsaw of, say, 7 TPI.

When you start sawing a 4 x 2 on a workbench, initially the saw is close to parallel with the top surface of the timber, as the cut progresses, so the carpenter’s arm is slowly raised to the comfortable angle of 30-40° from the surface. If he had tried to start the cut at this angle the coarse teeth would have jammed on the corner of the timber.

The razor saw overcomes this problem by having so many teeth it is difficult not to get at least three in the cut. It can be placed on a line drawn on a plywood panel and moved backwards and forwards until it breaks through.

It is then an easy job to follow the line accurately to the corner, or hopefully to a radiused corner, as plywood can suffer from a stress riser coming from a square cut corner, just as steel and aluminium can.

Plane

A small smoothing plane can be useful, as can a bullnose plane. Use them to take the edge off stringers, and for tasks like shaping wood for wingtip bows.

Craft knife

I have a Stanley knife and a Swann Morton craft knife, which both have their uses. There is just one tip for when you want to carve back a plywood edge – don’t hold the knife square to the material surface.

If you do, you are asking the knife to part the plywood at 180°, and it won’t want to do it. If you angle the blade at about 45° from the surface the blade will tend to part the ply with one side rising and the other side falling.

Basically, the ply has somewhere to go. You can carve on the vertical when there is only a small way to go. Obviously, I am talking about thin plywoods here.

If you embark on a wooden project and you hit a stumbling block that you think I may be able to help you with then please do not hesitate to email me at dudleypattison@gmail.com ■

Above Use a square to set the table square to the blade.

Above Note the blade guides, a similar set lurk beneath the table.

Above A typical small threewheel bandsaw is adequate but will break more blades.

Above A Swan Moreton craft knife and a Stanley knife join the cutting arsenal.

Above A small smoothing plane and block plane. The block plane is not essential but nice to have.

Above Razor saws come in various sizes and normally cut on the back stroke.

Struts 4U

Anne Hughes rounds up Strut news & views

With the return of flyable weather and long daylight hours there have been reports of gatherings, fly-ins and adventures across the country in the last month. Some were planning to make full use of mid-summer flying with the ambition of winning the 2022 Pooley’s Dawn to Dusk challenge, among them Nic Orchard from the Kent Strut with her Aeronca Champ G-TECC. We were fortunate in catching up with Nic when she made her lunch-time stop at Turweston when she told us that hers was an ‘alphabetical and structural’ challenge.

Along with navigating, taking relevant photos and remembering which letter of the alphabet was next, Nic had given herself a hard day’s work, as she explains, “My day started in around January, it felt, although it was a mild June morning. I split my route into four, allowing up to an hour for fuel breaks. There was wiggle room at the end of the day, but not too much. The planned route was for a total flight time of 8hr 32m in nil wind; by the end of

the day my actual flight time was 9hr 40m. with 10hr 20m in the saddle.

“By the evening, I’d found almost everything I wanted to, taken many photographs and landed in time to relax for an hour or so. I’d also looked at some smallish things on the ground from above, creeping through some gaps in airspace to do so. I’m wondering if that’s normal. I’m wondering if any of it is normal. There’s a charitable element also, so whatever else, there is benefit for a good cause.”

During May other Kent Strut members enjoyed a relaxing fly-in to Solley’s Farm, where ice creams were on the menu, while Gloster Strut spent a day at Croft Farm. Tim Badham reported that the Strut enjoyed a fabulous evening of food, flying and fun with great people and a marvellous variety of aeroplanes. Flyers came from all directions including Hampstead Norreys, Sleap and Middlezoy. The fine weather and lack of wind made for a relaxed and memorable gathering, thanks to all of the hard work put in to arrange it – especially by Mike Waldron.

Above Lovely Cub formation seen at Gloster Strut’s visit to Croft Farm.

Far right top Nic Orchard visiting Turweston during her Dawn to Dusk adventure.

Far right bottom Stearman at Oxford Strut’s 50th at Enstone.

Tim Badham

Trevor Bailey entertained with a demonstration in the SE5 (smoke on!) and Alan James gave a talk about his Pietenpol Air Camper. In the evening the BBQ supper was in full swing, with Mike serving his tasty Chowder, spuds and garlic bread, all washed down with drinks from the ‘field kitchen’. The Strut reported one of the best evenings together, new friends, great aircraft and a perfect flying evening with a finale of three Piper Cubs giving a slow fly-by in formation, a magical sight against the most beautiful backdrop of the perfect summer evening sky.

Oxford Group Strut continued their 50th Anniversary celebrations with an open invitation to aviators to join them at Enstone Airfield for a cream tea and an excursion around the hangar. An impressive demonstration of the Spitfire simulator made for an interesting experience while outside in the sun, among other aircraft, was a line-up of Piper Cubs and a Stearman.

Martyn Steggalls from the Suffolk Coastal Strut set up the ‘Spirit of Boxted’ fly-in at Monewden Airfield, and says, “Well what a great day – hot and sunny, although with a tricky crosswind. We didn’t quite make the 50 visitors, with a few cancelling due to tech issues and concerns on the wind/turbulence, but a total of 43 for the day was quite respectable.”

Neil Wilson has recovered from the LAA Scottish tour and is now back with the Wessex Strut. Members recently held a skittles night at a local pub, while on 9 July a lovely evening was spent at Middlezoy Airfield for a BBQ. Forty-five strut members and 15 aeroplanes attended and all enjoyed the excellent clubhouse and airfield facilities.

It is so good to hear about all the activities around the Struts. Don’t forget to check the list and see where your nearest Strut meets if you are not already involved. LAA Member Clubs have also been holding events around the country with an added enthusiasm felt around the airfields, as we all make up for the last two years. We look forward to reporting back next time on your Strut and Club fly-ins, so please send your news and pictures of your events for us to share in this column. ■

Strut Calendar

Please contact your local Strut to check the details before attending the calendar events.

Andover Strut: Spitfire Club, Popham Airfield, SO21 3BD. 19.30. 25 August – Summer Social Evening/Popham BBQ Fly-In, from 1700; 28 August Barton Ashes Fly-In. Details contact Bob Howarth email:bobhowarth99@ btinternet.com Phone no. 01980 611124

Bristol Strut: BAWA Club, Filton, 19.30. No meeting in August, 6 Sept AGM. Contact: chairman@bristolstrut.uk www. bristolstrut.uk

Cornwall Strut: The Clubhouse, Bodmin Airfield. Virtual Zoom meetings throughout winter months. 13August – Cornish Pasty Fly-In; 14 August – Cornwall Sports Car Club and Fly-In. Contact Pete White pete@aeronca.co.uk 01752 406660

Devon Strut: The Exeter Court Hotel, Kennford, Exeter. 1930. 6 August – Dunkeswell, Devon Strut Fly-in. Contact: david.millin@sea-sea.com

East of Scotland Strut: Harrow Hotel, Dalkeith. 2000. Contact: inrgibson001@ btinternet.com 0131 339 2351.

East Midlands Strut: The Plough, Normanton on Soar. Contact: tonyrazzell2@gmail.com Watch some recordings of previous meetings on our Facebook page Gloster Strut: Summer venue Croft Farm, Defford, WR8 9BN. Contact: Harry Hopkins 07902 650619 harry.hopkins@ talktalk.net

Highlands & Islands: Highland Aviation, Inverness Airport. Contact: b.w.spence@btinternet.com 01381 620535.

Kent Strut: Cobtree Manor Golf Club, Maidstone, Kent. 2000 . 4 August -– Barnards Farm Fly-out. Contact: Steve Hoskins hoskinsltd@outlook.com 07768 984507.

LiNSY Trent Valley Strut: Trent Valley Gliding Club, Kirton Lindsey. pilotbarry1951@gmail. com http:// linsystrut.wixsite.com/website

North East Strut: Fishburn Airfield. Brunch Third Sunday of each month. 1130-13.30 at Fishburn Aviator Cafe. Contact: alannixon297@btinternet.com

North Western Strut: Veterans Lounge, Barton, Manchester, 1930 for 2000. Contact: cliffmort@btinternet.com 07813 497427.

North Wales Strut: Caernarfon Airport, Dinas Dinlle. First Sunday of the month – HEMS Bistro Café. 1300. Contact: Gareth Roberts gtrwales@gmail.com 07876 483414.

Oxford Group: Sturdy’s Castle Country Inn, Banbury Road, Kidlington, OX5 3EP. Second Wednesday each month.

10 August – First build of the new KFA Safari by Dudley Pattison; 14 September. Feedback from competing in the World Microlight Championships with Owain Johns and Richard Gibbs. Contact LAAOxford@gmail.com www. oxfordlaa.co.uk

Redhill Strut: The Dog and Duck, Outwood, Surrey, RH1 5QU. Third Tuesday of each month at 19.30.

Contact: david@milstead.me.uk

Shobdon Strut: Hotspur Café, Shobdon Airfield, Hereford HR6 9NR. 19.30. 11

August. Proposed flyout to local airfield TBC; 8 September – Flying the Blackbird SR-71 – Rich Graham.

(Contact Keith if you are planning to attend.) Contact: Keith Taylor bushebiggles@sky.com

Southern Strut: The Swiss Cottage, Shoreham-by-Sea, BN43 5TD. First Wednesday of the month. 6 July 1930 – GASCo Safety Evening. Contact palmersfarm@sky.com

Strathtay Strut: Scottish Aero Club, Perth Airport, Scone. Scone Clubhouse. Contact: keith.boardman@peopleserve. co.uk 07785 244146.

Suffolk Coastal Strut: Earl Stonham Village Hall, IP14 5HJ – 28 Aug – Monewden Airfield Open Day & Flyin. Contact: Martyn Steggalls events@ suffolkcoastalstrut.org.uk 07790 925142

The Joystick Club: 7 August/ 4 September – Joystick Club at Shuttleworth Air Shows with pedal planes and simulator. Contact: Mike Clews, m.clews@sky.com. 07775 847914. www.joystickclub.co.uk

Vale of York Strut: Chocks Away Café, Rufforth East Airfield.19.00hrs. 6/7 August – ‘We All Fly 2022’ Yorkshire Fly-In with LAA at Rufforth. Contact: Chris Holliday 07860 787801 valeofyorkstrutlaa@gmail.comwww. valeofyorkstrutlaa.wordpress.com

Wessex Strut: Henstridge Airfield Clubhouse. Check Wessex Strut website. 6 August – Strut members BBQ at Eddington Hill Farm Strip. Local fortnightly Strut walks organised by Wessex Aviators Leisure Klub. Contact: neil.wilson@laa.uk.com

West Midlands Strut: Navigator Café, Halfpenny Green Aerodrome 1930. Contact: Graham Wiley westmidlandslaastrut@googlegroups. com Stuart Darby stuartdarby134@ hotmail.com. or visit our website wmstrut.co.uk

West of Scotland Strut: Bowfield Country Club, Howwood, PA9 1DZ. 1900. Contact: Neil Geddes barnbethnkg@gmail.com 01505 612493.

Youth & Education Support (YES) – YES stand at Shuttleworth Air Shows. 24 September 1pm-4pm – Audley End Scout Taster Day. (Contact 07974188395 to volunteer.) Contact: Stewart Luck – captainluck@hotmail. com

NB: Thank you to all Struts and clubs for getting in touch. If you have any stories, items you wish to share or updates for the calendar, please contact me at struts@laa.uk.com

A learning curve should be fun!

The newest member of the LAA Pilot Coaching Scheme, and the only Coach in Northern Ireland, Neil Wilson talks to Mark Chambers

How and when did you get started in aviation?

Flying has managed to make its way in three generations in my family now, starting with my late great uncle, David Sturgeon, who owned and flew a Miles Messenger in the 1950s, before emigrating to the States where he owned a V-tail Bonanza to commute down the Florida Keys. My dad, Colin, who learned to fly when I was still at primary school, and I caught the same bug. The mid-life crisis came early and I was only too happy to see he’d bought an aeroplane. Growing up as a bit of a ‘hangar rat’

Above Happiest when helping others learn - that’s Mark!

around Kilkeel, Co Down, was all part of my early life, especially at Aughrim which was full of LAA types, my dad’s Luscombe, a couple of Jodels and a Cub.

Saturdays were often spent helping cut grass, painting runway markers or picking stones off runways, often in return for invaluable flying lessons from airfield owner Archie Alderdice.

Tell us about your PPL training

My first flight in a light aircraft was the back of a 172, at the Ulster Flying Club (UFC), which was a gift to my dad as a trial lesson – I often joke this was the most expensive gift my mum ever bought as he wanted to learn to fly, and I DEFINITELY wanted to

Mark (seated) and his brother Gary in an easyJet cockpit, 15+ years ago…

Keir Williams

learn! I also recall my first flight with my dad when he got his PPL, it was a clear and calm Christmas Eve, perfect!

Despite our best petitions to the CAA to count my Luscombe time in those early years, I had to go and receive PPL training in Newtownards on UFC’s 172 fleet, which was a 7hr round trip on buses for me at 16 years old, often just to get an hour of flying! But that all became worth it when in September 2014 I became a PPL holder thanks to the Ulster Flying Club – and a grilling from examiner Trevor Kellett. I was in my final year in High School, and the school bus went past the airfield road, so occasionally I’d hop off and go flying instead! But when I got a car it was even better, I’d occasionally ditch school at lunchtime, obviously to fly over my peers on their lunch break, to be greeted afterwards by a less than impressed headmaster!

With my PPL in hand it was straight into the Luscombe with Archie Alderdice, for tailwheel differences training. For those who don’t know Archie, he is a bit of a local legend in GA in Northern Ireland, founding Aughrim some 50 years ago, and a loyal attendee of the PFA/LAA Rallys in Cranfield and Sywell. Aughrim isn’t the easiest of airfields for a fresh PPL holder, but steady guidance and good mentoring has made it home for me.

You trained for your commercial licence in New Zealand. What was that like?

Post-PPL, my ambitions didn’t wane, and I went to CTC Aviation to do my commercial training, with the vast majority, in Hamilton, New Zealand. I lived there for 17 months doing ATPL groundschool and doing my CPL, Multi Engine and Instrument Training. Following New Zealand’s coastlines by air for hours on end is very therapeutic, flying an approach into Windy Wellington is less so! But the breathtaking views of circling around Mt Taranaki at 10,000ft were hard to beat! New Zealand was a really wonderful place to live and my course mates and I became the best of friends during that time. We ended up touring around in campervans and staying in some of the most beautiful locations on the South Island, too. In Bournemouth I finished my instrument rating. We lived in a big house beside the beach in the summer, we

Top Training for ATPL with CTC in New Zealand.

Above Mark, on completion of his PPL at Ulster Flying Club.

Below Current job, flying for easyJet.

had the best parties, and it was a great last hurrah to end our training. Towards the end of my training I was fortunate enough to be offered an interview with easyJet. Thankfully this went well and I was offered a job flying the Airbus in Belfast – as close to home as I could get!

How long have you been an LAA member?

I have been an LAA member since the very start of my Luscombe flying, as this allowed me to take advantage of licence renewal training in the Pilot Coaching Scheme (PCS) with Archie. Since becoming a flying instructor, I had always wanted to get involved with the LAA PCS. I never thought the opportunity would come around quite so soon, but then Archie retired and I applied to become a coach. The thing I’m looking forward to most is continuing the work that Archie has done for many years in Northern Ireland, and hopefully our LAA friends on the mainland will come over to visit us to join in the fun too!

Number of types and hours flown?

I’ve flown about 30 types and have 1,700hr total as it stands. About 650 of those have been in single-engine light aircraft.

It still seems like a drop in the ocean, but I have age on my side, and hopefully a lifetime of flying still ahead of me!

Any favourite aircraft so far?

I’m definitely biased, but for me it has to be the Luscombe. I think it’s certainly one of the best looking LAA types, and it flies so well. It’s a real workhorse, is comfortable in a wide range of weather conditions, can lift a good load, and is also very sporty in and out of tight strips. But ‘low and slow’ types in general are where I’m happiest. Cubs, Champs, Taylorcraft, Jodels and Luscombes, they all have their little eccentricities, but all are typically delightful to fly! I love a bit of 1940s ergonomics.

Types I like least are probably the new modern LSA stuff. While I totally get the appeal, as they’re fast and cheap to run, and usually fly beautifully, for me they don’t have the soul that old aeroplanes have.

What and where have you flown for ‘work’ so far?

I’ve only flown the A319 and A320. Airbus has a fantastic design that’s the same type rating for both. I would say the A319 is a bit sportier since it’s shorter and it’s definitely better on a gusty day. The new A320s with the ‘sharklet’ wingtips are very slippery and can be a bit harder to get slowed down. The NEO has plenty of power but is very efficient, so much kinder on the environment.

As a place to operate from, I reckon Belfast is one of the best kept secrets! We’ve a small base of seven aircraft and all the crew know each other and get on really well. Going to work always makes for a good day out. For me I prefer the short sectors. As I write this, I’m between a day’s flights to Glasgow and Edinburgh, which is my ideal day out. Short hops across the Irish sea are very busy as some days we might only have a five minute

cruise! Of course, the odd day somewhere exotic to sit in the sun for 15 minutes is hard to beat too!

Do you own an aircraft?

Family aeroplanes have always been Luscombes, and dad and I have no plans to break from that tradition! Slower than a speeding bullet, less powerful than a locomotive… but faster than a Cub!

What’s been your most memorable moment in aviation?

A massive highlight for me was the summer of 2020, after a rather miserable few months in lockdown we were let loose for a Luscombe get together at Draycott Farm and then Sywell that Nige Barratt organised. My dad and I flew from Aughrim to Barton, where we linked up with Tom Carter (G-AJKB), and flew together to Draycott for lunch. The highlight came being a part of a gaggle of Luscombes flying together across the English countryside, I think six aircraft in total. Of course a few beers and Luscombe stories were shared that night too!

You are an instructor at the UFC and now at 25 you are the newest Coach in the LAA Pilot Coaching Scheme. What plans have you got?

Well, this is where it all comes full circle. I got my PPL at UFC back in 2014 and now I’m part of the team of instructors there. Also my examiner Trevor, from Navan Airfield, has me instructing there too. I feel very lucky to instruct and I’ve found it so rewarding seeing students go solo and achieve their goal of earning their PPL. Now, with this new role as an LAA PCS Coach, I’m very excited to get started. I can offer differences training on tailwheel, retractable gear, constant-speed/variable-pitch propellers, EFIS and single power level control. But that’s not all, being based at Aughrim and using many of the other local strips over the years I’m very keen to help members who may want some coaching with strip flying, especially to help build confidence in their skills and aircraft capabilities! Coaching doesn’t just stop after differences training or a biennial review, it’s always an opportunity to explore your abilities and aircraft, even if it’s just to try a new airfield or get help with polishing up your R/T skills, I’m very willing and available to assist.

Above Mark flying with his dad Colin in their Luscombe.

Below Camping with the Luscombe at the 2021 LAA Rally.

What can pilots do in their day-to-day flying to stay ‘polished’?

Having discipline goes a long way. Not accepting sloppy flying, but trying actively to fly the aircraft as best you can. Enthusiasm and a bit of persistence for sure to be the best you can be. You’ve got to be honest in this game too though, if something isn’t up to scratch and you know it, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t try and address it. But as far as Coaching is concerned, a good brief and debrief of what’s going well and what needs work, and coming up with a plan on how to achieve that is very important. For me as an instructor, I find pilots learn best when you’re having fun! It’s easy to forget, but fun is all part of good airmanship.

Do you have any aviation heroes?

At 16 I went to the Red Bull Air Race in Budapest and watched Paul Bonhomme fly – it blew my mind, so he’s up there as far as heroes are concerned. Another would be writer Ernest Gann. I recently read Fate Is The Hunter and was on the edge of my seat as he described flying across the North Atlantic using a DC-3 and celestial navigation – no SkyDemon back then! Both these pilots perfected their skills and ultimately were the best at their jobs, and that inspires me to try and be like that too.

Any lessons learned in aviation?

As a fresh PPL holder, life was going pretty sweet until I was climbing out from Newtownards in the Luscombe when an exhaust valve stuck open. Anyone who’s experienced this knows how unpleasant it is, effectively a partial engine failure at low level – I think I was at 300ft. I think I had 60hr or so at the time, and my training kicked in.

My first concern was to maintain airspeed, then work out what to do from there. The aircraft settled and flew level at about 80kt, which was actually a comfortable place to be. I turned on a tight low level downwind and returned to land on the same runway I departed. It all happened very quickly but it reinforces the age old adage, ‘Aviate, Navigate and Communicate’, in that order!

Since then, there’s been a few encounters with poor weather, but I’ll save those for another time!

Any future flying dreams?

Every boy wants to fly a Spitfire, unfortunately I think that’s

Right If you weren’t sure, Mark is happiest when flying something vintage or classic!

a bit out of my budget, but I’ve always wanted to have a go at flying a Harvard. I think I might be able to stretch to that someday – I hope!

Anything with a big noisy round engine would be ideal. Another dream would be to fly in a DC-3/4/6, more noisy round engines, there’s a theme here perhaps!

I haven’t done anything about it yet either, but I’ve always wanted to build a Van’s RV, although I’m not sure where I would find the time! Maybe someday…

Do you have other non-aviation hobbies or interests?

If like me you’re a bit of an aviation addict you need to find things to do on those non-flying days. I dabble a bit in film photography with a few old cameras I have.

In lockdown I got a wee Romanian rescue dog, which I named Connie, after my second favourite passenger aircraft, the Lockheed Constellation, why not the first? It would be a bit silly to name a dog, DC-3!

Any words of wisdom to share with other pilots?

For me I’ve been very lucky growing up in a club surrounded by lots of experienced pilots. It’s from their experiences that I’ve been able to learn loads. My advice is to get involved and listen to people who have experience to share.

Don’t shy away from the push to learn more. Perhaps go and do a couple of courses, for example, in instrument flying, aerobatics, night flying or maybe learn tailwheel.

All of these will help your skill level and your confidence. Most of all though, never be afraid to ask for help! ■

WHERE TO GO

Aselection of events for the beginning of the year, and some you might want to plan for in the summer months. While they’ve yet to publish a list of events, don’t forget GASCo is running some Safety Evenings up and down the country. Keep an eye on its website, www.gasco.org.uk, for further updates. As always, check the Royal Aero Club Events website for

August

1 Duxford IWM Young Aviators Flying Day [pre-book]

5-7 Rufforth East LAA Vale of York Strut Flyin & Meet the LAA [PPR]

6 Compton Abbas Vintage Saturday Fly-in [PPR]

6 Dunkeswell Devon Strut fly-in

6-7 Leicester BAeA Aerobatic competition

6-7 Piddington Big fly-in at New Farm

7 Old Warden Shuttleworth Family Air Show [PPR]

12-14 Schaffen-Diest 37th Old timers and ultralights fly-in

12-15 Schärding-Suben Bölkow & Friends Meeting

13 Bodmin Cornish Pasty Fly-in & Fun Day [PPR]

13 Bidford UK STOL Competition

13 Beccles VPAC Vintage Piper Fly-in

13-14 Retford Headon Airfield fly-in

13-14 Leeds East RRRA Air Races 13-14

14 Stow Maries Essex History & Air Show

19-21 Breighton Vintage Aerobatic World Championships [PPR]

20 Stoke Medway Fly-in and Summer Party [PPR]

20 Sleap Spot Landing Competition [PPR]

20 Old Warden Shuttleworth Flying

the latest information and web links for many of the events: https://events.royalaeroclub.org/events.htm.

As always, our thanks to the RAeC and to Dave Wise for the use of their data.

If you have an event you want to advertise on the list, please email the details to Dave at: dave.wise@btinternet.com.

Planning ahead…

[PPR]

Sept 17-18 Fenland BAeA Aerobatic competition

Sept 24-25 Eshott RRRA Air Races

Sept 24-25 Sandown Late summer flamping fly-in

Sept 24-25 Sywell Pistons & Props show

Sept 25 Barton FOBA fly-in [PPR]

Sept 30-Oct 1 Old Warden RRRA Kings Cup 100th anniversary tribute air race [PPR]

Oct 2 Old Warden Race day Air Show [PPR]

Oct 6 Old Warden Access all areas and lunch [PPR]

Oct 6-9 Sleap BAeA Nationals

Oct 8 Welshpool VPAC fly-in

Oct 8 Duxford IWM Flying Finale Air Show [PPR]

Oct 9 Bicester Sunday scramble!

Oct 9 Coventry Midland Air Museum aviation fair

Oct 20 Exeter GASCo Weather Decision Making For GA Seminar [pre-book]

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Not only can you access all our great content, but you’ll get member benefits worth hundreds of pounds a year. Find out more at flyer.co.uk/membership

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Here’s hoping that September will see us still enjoying some lovely sunny days, but maybe some cooler temperatures after the recent highs! We’ve got these three great landing offers for you to enjoy at Blackbushe, East Kirkby and City Airport Barton.

Our thanks to these airfields for supporting our LAA members landing voucher scheme. Please be sure to thank them for their participation by buying fuel for your aircraft, or if there’s a cafe, fuel for you and your passengers!

LIGHT

Aviation

Half-Priced Landing September 2022

Blackbushe Airport 01252 471300

A totally refurbished café, now called The Pathfinder, opened in March, which is twice the size inside, with a much larger outdoor area with seating, making it a great viewing area. The airport team welcomes LAA aeroplanes. Important note: PPR please via the airport website and read and fill in the arrival form giving your email address. Pay landing fee at the airport fire station offices. Please avoid flying over Yateley and Hartley Wintney villages. Radio is 122.305. Avgas and UL91 available. Farnborough 125.250. Website www.blackbusheairport.co.uk

Aviation

Free Landing September 2022

East Kirkby 01790-763207

Fly into this historic airfield and make the most of a wonderful opportunity to visit the museum on site. Home of the Panton families Avro Lancaster Just Jane and recently added DH Mosquito. The runway is both grass and concrete. Please PPR and read the instructions on the website for joining and air traffic information, as they are close to RAF Coningsby and RAF Waddington. No fuel available. There is a great restaurant, book and gift shop. Avoid East Kirkby village. Safety Com 135.480 Airfield and museum is closed on Sundays and Mondays. www.lincsaviation.co.uk

LIGHT

Aviation

Free Landing September 2022 City Airport Barton Manchester 0161-789-1362

A great airport for visiting both the city and the North West region. The airfield has two cafés on site. Radio 120.250 – AFIS callsign ‘Barton Information’. Airport opening hours 0800-1800 local Tuesday to Sunday. Fuel Available: Jet A1, avgas 100LL at all times during airport hours. Visit the Trafford Centre for shopping, or see an event at the many Manchester venues. PPR on line www.egcbatis.co.uk

Having built a reputation for excellence in the design and manufacture of light aircraft fuel system components within the amateur-build aircraft sector, Andair has now established a significant presence in the commercial aviation market as well.

Email your classified advertisement

For all display or commercial advertising enquiries please contact

Neil Wilson: 07512 773532 neil.wilson@laa.uk.com

You can email your classified advertisement direct to the LAA at the following address: office@laa.uk.com

Deadline for booking and copy: 19 August 2022

If you would like to place an aircraft for sale advert please see details below:

MEMBERS’ ADVERTISEMENTS

Up to 30 words: £6; 31-50 words: £12

Up to 50 words with a coloured photo: £45

NON-MEMBERS’ADVERTISEMENTS

Up to 30 words: £22; 31-50 words: £44

Up to 50 words with a coloured photo: £60 www.laa.uk.com

LAA Engineering advice to buyers:

AIRCRAFT APPROVED? Members and readers should note that the inclusion of all advertisements in the commercial or classified sections of this magazine does not necessarily mean that the product or service is approved by the LAA. In particular, aircraft types, or examples of types advertised, may not, for a variety of reasons, be of a type or standard that is eligible for the issue of a LAA Permit to Fly. You should not assume that an aircraft type not currently on the LAA accepted type list will eventually be accepted.

IMPORTED AIRCRAFT? Due to unfavourable experiences, the purchase and import of completed homebuilt aircraft from abroad is especially discouraged.

TIME TO BUILD? When evaluating kits/designs, it should borne in mind that technical details, performance figures and handling characteristics are often quoted for a factory-produced aircraft flying under ideal conditions. It is wise, therefore, to seek the opinion of existing builders and owners of the type. You should also take your own skill and circumstances into consideration when calculating build times. The manufacturer’s build time should be taken as a guide only.

AMATEUR BUILDING All LAA aircraft builders and potential builders are reminded that in order to qualify for a LAA Permit to Fly, homebuilt aircraft must be genuinely amateur built. For these purposes the CAA provide a definition of amateur built in their publication CAP 659, available from LAA. An extract from CAP 659 reads “The building and operation of the aircraft will be solely for the education and recreation of the amateur builder. This means that he would not be permitted to commission someone else to build his aircraft”. An aircraft built outside the CAA’s definition could result in an expensive garden ornament.

AIRCRAFT FOR SALE

1967 Beagle Husky. A well cared for and capable aircraft which has recently been featured in the May 2022 edition of Light Aviation. 180hp Lycoming engine, 1190hrs. Airframe 3130hrs. Fitted with Garmin GNC255 and a Garmin G5. Based at Dunkeswell and always hangared. Contact Steve Holwill 07875 779137

Europa Tri Gear G-ODJG Europa Classic

Tri Gear - XS firewall forward - Rotax 912ULS 100HP - NSI (type 3) variable pitch prop. 958+ hours. Permit expiry May 2023, ILS, VOR, Horis EFIS, Fuel flow totaliser, Smartass (talking airspeed), electric flaps, digital engine monitoring system, strobe lights. Based Sherburn EGCJ. £27k. Contact 07383 082407.

Pipistrel Virus SW UK registered for sale - £99K – Ready to fly now Reg: G-PIVI, could be used to form a group. Price: £99K (inc. VAT), 600kg Permit to Fly on BMAA, Approved Autopilot and Vari Prop. 100 litres fuel capacity, 500 hrs Airframe/Engine 100 hp Rotax, Dynon D180 (Glass cockpit), Analog back up of Altimeter, Airspeed, Parachute, wheel fairings, wingtip and landing lights. Radio, Transponder. Baggage compartment. Leather Seats. Factory Assist built, 135 knot cruise. 500hr engine maintenance completed recently, 500hr Prop check complete. Permit to May 2023. Includes Sky Echo. Based at Top Farm (near Cambridgeshire). Contact Details hsanganee@me.com and 07980371495

Half share Europa Trigear Classic G-MFHI based Rochester. Rotax UL with Woodcomp 3000 CS prop 1,450 hours total 350 hours since engine overhaul. 112 kts, built in GPS linked to autopilot, Funke ATR833, Garmin Mode S GTX 328, Dynon D10A, VOR, Tablet RAM mount, PilotAware, SkyEcho. Engine fund (£6400) Andrew themorgans42@gmail.com

PROJECTS FOR SALE

07980 619760

Classic Zenair Zenith ch200/250 airframe offered with few fittings but essentially structurally complete. LAA approved design, plans set 2-590 reduced to £2450 - location West Midlandsapply brvickers@googlemail.com

RV-8 EMPENNAGE KIT, unstarted still in box. No time to build and wife objecting STARTER MOTOR brand new Sky Tec 149-12LS F2L-121210 Rev H Pitch 12/14 12V Call for details David 07738 627141

PARTS FOR SALE

Rallye 100ST For spares or repairs for more details call 07753 794 790 or email ael@post.com

Gipsy Major 10–1 crankshaft. All mods done including sulphanising by Deltair with Certificate of release. Sensible offers please. Also Gipsy Major Mod 1 crankshaft, all mods done by Vintec, with certificate of release. For more info: John Henderson 07979 966196 or john. henderson1263@btinternet.com

JPM, Oil filter adapters. Made to order, Continental O-200 -12 from £360 and A65 -8 from £430. All oil filter adapter kits are LAA approved via TADS document, E05. jpm.aviation@gmail com Julian Mills 07976 530 563

SERVICES

Hangarage / outside parking available private strip near Huntingdon / Peterborough. 700M grass runway. On site security. Clubhouse. Toilets. www.aerium2020.weebly.com

Email aerium2020@outlook.com Tel 07808 808945

Welding Services (Mobile). CAA approved for 4130 steel airframes manufacture and repair. Custom exhaust systems and aluminium fuel tanks undertaken. Cheshire based – contact Julian Mills on 07976 530 563 or e mail jpm. aviation@gmail.com

Design & Stress Analysis Service. Type submissions, modifications, engine frames and general advice. We cover everything from SSDR to A380:- structures, powerplant (IC and electric) and avionic installations. Contact John Wighton enquires@acroflight.co.uk or call 07770399315.

AIRCRAFT WEIGHING

Light Aircraft Weighing Service in East Yorkshire and surrounding area. For details contact Demraview Ltd. Email: Demraview@gmail.com Mob: 07984 810 761

FROM THE ARCHIVES The stories behind items in the LAA’s collection IN THE BEGINNING…

These two documents mark the birth of our Association. The first is the agenda for the very first meeting of what became ‘The Ultra-Light Aircraft Association’ when, attracted by correspondence in Flight Magazine, an inaugural gathering of like-minded enthusiasts was held on October 22 1946 at a flat in London belonging to the brothers Maurice and Ian Imray.

Maurice became the ULAA’s first Secretary, while technical negotiations with the Ministry of Aviation to create the Permit to Fly system were led by former RNVR engineer officer Ron Clegg and Group Captain Edward Mole, an RAF staff officer and ex-test pilot.

By the time of the inaugural Bulletin, sent to members on 1 December 1946, Mole had recruited a network of allies at

the highest level. By the end of the decade the ULAA’s Presidents and Vice-Presidents would number Sir Peter Masefield, Sir Alan Cobham, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, Major Frank Halford, Freddie and George Miles, and Air Vice Marshall Don (Pathfinder) Bennett.

It was Mole who, to quote fellow founding member Arthur W G Ord-Hume, “Persuaded the authorities that we were the organisation to do it, when all we really had was a filing cabinet in Maurice Imray’s flat and a vast amount of enthusiasm!”

There is one further legacy of this early correspondence. Our LAA AGM is set around the date of that inaugural meeting. This year it is at Turweston on Sunday 23 October. See you there! Steve Slater