Light Aviation November 2022

Chairman

ERYL SMITH

CEO

STEPHEN SLATER

Engineering Director

JOHN RATCLIFFE CEng FRAeS CMgr FCMI

Chief Technical Officer

JON VINER CEng MEng MRAeS

Chief Inspector

LUCY WOOTTON

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

Long-termers…

Recently, when Francis Donaldson was visiting my home strip for the RV-3 flight test, which featured in last month’s issue, while he was mulling life over a cup of tea, I spotted him admiring a Rans S-10 Sakota that’s been a long-time resident.

Returning from his quick inspection of the aeroplane, he was full of compliments for the type, and this particular examples’ condition. As we sat in the September afternoon sunshine and finished our tea, I explained that the aircraft has been based at the strip for 30+ years, and has been actively flown by its builder/owner for all that time.

This set both Francis and I thinking… this sort of long-termer combination of aircraft and owner/pilot could be of interest to the readers of Light Aviation

So, if you have a homebuilt that you’ve built and have been flying for more than 30 years, please do get in touch. I’m sure there’s some stories that would be worth sharing with the readers of Light Aviation

Also falling under the banner of ‘longtermers’, I’m sure there are a few owners out there who have restored and operated some factory-built aircraft for 30+ years. Just take a look at Michael Greenfield’s wonderful Piper Cub that features in this issue’s flight test, starting on page 18. An aircraft that’s been in his family for more than 40 years.

So if this is you, then please join in.

It’s easy to overlook, but there’s some excellent green credentials in stories like this. As a general rule, light aircraft tend to be built to last, and with good maintenance and careful operation, they tend to stick around

for a long time. Plus, when the time rolls around for refurbishment, then it’s in the realm of easy capability for restorers to take them apart and return them to ‘like new’ condition. In fact, I’m sure most of the restorations I’ve seen in recent years have resulted in something far better than the original! OK, sometimes the money spent on such endeavours might occasionally outstrip what the market considers to be value of an aeroplane, but compared to what some old-timers might cost, were they were to be sold new today, I think we’d be surprised.

I once saw a perfectly restored Beech Staggerwing for sale at Oshkosh for £400k –such an aeroplane built today would surely cost three or four times that…

In a world where having new shiny ‘stuff’ is all too common, it’s refreshing to know that old aircraft can continue to bring lots of enjoyment.

ed.hicks@laa.uk.com

Have you owned and flown a ‘long-termer’ like Michael Greenfield’s J3 Cub for 30+ years? Then read on below…

FEATURES

12 PROJECT NEWS

This issue we look at a Van’s RV-7, Van’s RV-8, and continue with part two of John Price’s RV-12 iS adventure. Plus New Projects and Cleared to Fly.

18 FLIGHT TEST

A beautifully restored aeronautical family heirloom – and truly cultured Cub. Clive Davidson takes to the air in a Piper J3C-65 Cub

26 FLYING ADVENTURE

It’s a big ask to fly over – and ‘bag’ – all 282 mountain summits above 3,000ft in Scotland… but Derek Pake does it all in 24 hours

34 COACHING CORNER

PCS Head of Training, David Cockburn, says the ability to read the weather as it develops around you as you fly, is a vital skill for pilots. Part I.

36 ENGINEERING MATTERS

Advice about buying engines for sale without documentation or logbooks, cracked Auster brake plates, and a Van’s stick boot service bulletin

40 TECHNICAL

In part four of his occasional series, Mike Roberts takes a look at airfoil selection and performance estimates

47 MEET THE MEMBERS

For Russ Pinder a cycling accident almost 20 years ago left him with a spinal cord injury, but a specially adapted Foxbat has enabled him to expand his horizons…

Plenty more news is available on the LAA website at www.laa.uk.com check it out every day!

New year, new training courses

Plans are progressing well, with a number of new courses for January 2023 onwards. We have a trial run for Rob Martin’s Composite Course in November, before a full course will be made available to members. Plus, a Vintage Airframes course will be available, run by well-known aircraft restorer Ian Castle, at Sywell.

Our sincere thanks go to Dudley Pattison (and wife Jane who has provided attendees with lunch) who, after many years of running the well-attended Woodwork course at his Swindon workshop, has decided to call it a day.

Stepping into the breach from January will be Alan James. Alan, of course, is well known for his superb prize-winning Pietenpol Air Camper G-BUCO, and more recently his superb Isaacs Spitfire. He is also prepared to arrange a

propeller-making course if there is sufficient demand, so please drop me an email at bfjjodel@talktalk.net if you are interested.

Meanwhile, for 2022, there are two Rotax 912/914 Maintenance courses to be

Slingshot volunteer request

held at Turweston on 3 December (Saturday) and 17 December (Saturday). £120.

Keep an eye on the LAA website for further details of training courses as they become available.

Volunteer help is sought for the Air League Project Slingshot Sling 2 wing-build, based at the Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre at Ansty Business Park in Coventry. Previous LAA build experience and being local to Coventry are noted as essential requirements. If you think you can help, then your travel and subsistence will be refunded. To get in touch, please contact al.seymour@highflightconsulting.co.uk

Pawsome fundraisers!

A big thank you to everyone who donated to the collection held at the LAA Grass Roots Fly-in at Popham. A marvellous £946.53 was raised for the IOW and Hampshire Air Ambulance with the help of regulars, Mollie and Dylan.

LAA Members trip to EAA AirVenture, Oshkosh

2023

Following on from the successful trip to Oshkosh this summer, and in response to a number of requests already received at HQ, LAA members Neil Murgatroyd and George Pick have put together plans and initiated pre-booking for the 2023 event.

The trip runs from 22 July to 31 July. Packages start from £1,700 for a two-bed shared room (+£315 single supplement). Please note, this is not an organised package tour. It is taking advantage of Neil and George’s expertise to arrange the best

deal on flights, accommodation and ground transportation to enable LAA members to visit the world’s biggest fly-in. If you are interested, you can contact Neil or George via oshkosh@laa.uk.com.

Left Mollie and Dylan on collection duty.

Left New woodwork tutor Alan James Right Dudley Pattison is retiring.

Above Oshkosh - There's no bigger airshow…!

Permit aircraft flight in Ireland

LAA Approval for uAvionix tailBeaconX

and AV-30

The uAvionix tailBeaconX and AV-30 multi-function display have been approved by the Light Aircraft Association, making the tailBeaconX 1090 MHz ADS-B transponder and AV-30 altitude encoder an accepted equipment combination for ADS-B OUT in aircraft on the LAA fleet.

tailBeaconX is an integrated 1090 MHz ADS-B transponder that replaces a rear navigation light by combining it with an ADS-B OUT / Mode S transponder, SBAS GPS, antennas, and rear LED position light. It

works with the uAvionix AV-30 multi-function display to be installed as the control head/altitude encoder.

In this configuration, the AV-30 is able to leverage the tailBeaconX SBAS GPS for its GPS track display. The AV-30 also offers the pilot added features such as an Attitude Indicator, Directional Gyro, AOA, and 12 more safety-enhancing features. uAvionix says it anticipates adding additional means of control through uAvionix and third-party devices.

Aviation Heritage Awards for Waterbird

The Lakes Flying Company has won Aviation Heritage UK’s Robert Pleming Memorial Award for 2022 for its recreation and successful flying of Waterbird, a faithful replica of the first seaplane to fly with a stepped float, built for Edward Wakefield by Avro, and flown from Windermere in 1911. No construction drawings survived for Waterbird, so the replica, including its game-changing stepped float, which reduced water drag during

take-off and has been used on all subsequent water-borne aircraft, had to be built using only a few period photographs as a guide.

It took 11 years to build using period materials like bamboo were used to build the replica, while a modern engine was the only significant departure from the original. Waterborne flights were made in the summer of 2022.

RAeS Light Aircraft Design Conference

The Royal Aeronautical Society General Aviation Group Light Aircraft Design Conference returns to 4 Hamilton Place –RAeS HQ on November 14.

This year’s Design Conference includes much to whet light aircraft designers’ appetites: lightweight structural lessons from Human Powered Aircraft Structures; Design Tools on a Budget, Aircraft Developed using E-Conditions; design reflections and experiences on Rebuilding the Black Magic Comet Racer by Martin Jones; Jean-Michel

Guimbard from Turbotech will talk about regenerative turbines for light aircraft; and lastly, Design and Development of the Shark Microlight. Zara Rutherford, who circumnavigated the world in her Shark microlight will be introducing the Shark presentation with a talk on her experiences from her

The Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, has just recently updated the relevant Aeronautical Notice No. A.19 (26/09/2022), which sets its ‘Conditions for Exemption’, which apply to over-flights and visits to Ireland by foreign registered aircraft not holding an ICAO Certificate of Airworthiness, i.e. Aircraft classified under Annex 1 to Regulation (EU) No 2018/1139.

Importantly, this exemption in general applies to all amateur-built and classic and vintage aircraft (as defined in Annex 1) registered in a Member State of the European Civil Aviation Conference, ECAC, reference, qualifying list of aircraft categories to which this exemption applies is set out per section (1) of Notice A.N. A.19.

The ‘Conditions of Exemption’ are also listed as per paragraphs (a) through (h) of the Notice in question, and it will be seen that the exemption period is for visits of no more than 28 days – reference paragraph (e) – with the exception of aircraft registered in the United Kingdom and registered to an owner with an address in Northern Ireland.

The ‘Explanatory Note’ on the second page, states that:

“The intent of this exemption is to allow aircraft to enter or overfly Irish airspace without the need to apply for an individual exemption, subject to the ‘Conditions of Exemption’ of A.19. It is to facilitate short-term visits, not to accommodate aircraft intended to be based or resident in Ireland. Such aircraft would be required to transfer onto the Irish Register.”

Also, pilot licence and insurance requirements are specified, including a list of the necessary documents required onboard the visiting aircraft.

In addition, please also be advised that there are 'mutual recognition' of flight permit agreements in place between Ireland and the UK (IAA & CAA) and between Ireland and France (IAA & DGAC), there arrangements were negotiated some years ago with the direct support and cooperation of our colleagues in the LAA and RSA. tinyurl.com/irishflightpermissions

round the world trip.

In addition, the results for the International Light Aircraft Design Competition 2021/2 will be announced, and the winner and runner-up entries described. tinyurl.com/ RAESGAConference2022

Left Learn more about the remarkable Turbotech turbine at the RAeS Light Aircraft design conference.

AVM Bertrand ‘John’ Brownlow OBE 1929 – 2022

We are sad to hear of the passing of Air Vice Marshal (AVM) John Brownlow, OBE, who died in late September this year aged 93.

LAA member Allan Coatesworth, a fellow RAF pilot of the dangerous post-war fast jet era, whose MCR-01 was test flown by John, tells us that John applied to join the RAF as a pilot, but due to a larger number of applicants than there were places, was offered Navigator training instead, which he accepted. Being a tall, smart and imposing character it was no surprise that in due course John became Aide de Camp (ADC) to an Air Vice Marshal who went on to become the Chief of the Air Staff. Subsequently he was able to transfer to pilot training. He was obviously an above average pilot since he was selected to become a flying instructor and then moved on to graduate at the Empire Test Pilot School. His RAF career progressed very satisfactorily with too many flying and organisational achievements to list here – suffice to say that finally as an Air Vice Marshal himself, John was Commandant in charge of both the Research Centre and the Test Pilot School at Boscombe Down.

On retiring from the RAF, John was appointed Director of Aviation at Marshalls Cambridge, and during that time he and the other test pilots also ran the Marshalls Flying Club. On second retirement he became President of The Southside (now Northside) Flying Club at Cambridge. The Club at that time had many members, and very active workshop facilities, which became the birthplace of many homebuilt projects. With help from John on the flying side, for a number of years this collection of sheds grew into a

development centre for new designs, the likes of which we’ve not seen before nor since.

John did the initial test flights and owner-conversions on over 120 amateur-built aircraft that emerged out of this and other workshops in the locality, as well as the routine currency checks for club pilots. His mission was to raise the standard of LAA aircraft and LAA flying – offering his expertise freely to LAA Engineering through numerous flight test programmes so that new types of aircraft could be rendered safe and then approved.

He also contributed to a flight safety magazine and, concerned about the wide gap between the handling characteristics of vintage and homebuilt LAA aircraft and the handling skills of most GA pilots, set up the LAA Pilot Coaching Scheme.

LAA member and LAA Inspector Phil Snowden, who was also one of the Cambridge Club at that time, recalls John test flying his homebuilt Avid Speedwing for acceptance as a new type, and being impressed by John’s wisdom, thoroughness and superb hand flying skills. He recalls how John told him that during his time being taught to be a test pilot at Boscombe Down, the students had to draw lots for which aircraft they would use for a one-day evaluation exercise and write-up. John’s chum had got the HS125 – John a Tipsy Nipper!

John gave up instructing age 86, and finally stopped flying a year later. Everyone whom we contacted knew John as a kind, charming and lovely man, and a great life, thoroughly well lived, devoted to raising aviation standards.

Francis Donaldson

in South Africa donated the remains of 1942 MK1 LB369 (G-AHHY). He spent the following 20 years meticulously restoring LB369 from barn find to wartime factory spec near Durban SA before moving to England in 2020 with Auster in tow. The final completion has been carried out at Enstone and test flying paperwork recently submitted.

Gerald Maddams 1947 – 2022

It is with great sadness to report the passing of long standing LAA member and South African EAA 1502 Chairman, Gerald Maddams.

Gerald was an all round aviation nut, but well known in the Auster circles which he fell into by chance when a friend

Unfortunately, during the last year, Gerald was putting up a good fight against an aggressive form of cancer which the specialists could not contain. He travelled back to South Africa in August to see friends and family but deteriorated so rapidly that he was unfit to return.

He passed away the day after receiving news from the LAA that LB369 had been successfully cleared for test flying.

It is tragic that he never got the chance to take his beloved aircraft into the skies, but he is survived by three daughters and his son Michael who will maintain and fly the Auster as a living tribute to their father.

He was loved by all, and his memory will remain in our hearts. Blue skies and tailwinds.

Michael Maddams

Letters

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

Rally thoughts: One

Dear Ed,

I read with interest the letter from Alan Lovejoy in the latest Light Aviation, advocating a return to July for the annual LAA gathering. I would certainly be in favour of a different date, because in recent years the September fixture has clashed with the excellent ULM exhibition at Blois in France.

This year I did the long trek down to the Loire Valley, which meant that I missed Popham – but the variety of aircraft and innovation at Blois made it well worthwhile. I can recommend this to all LAA members –and being able to attend both events would be a welcome move.

Rod Simpson.

… and two

Hello Ed,

Interesting letter from Alan Lovejoy, in the October mag, whom I met with at the West Tisted fly-in this year, where he and his lovely wife were demonstrating the correct way to enjoy a vintage event… as they reclined in their chairs in the shade of their lovely aircraft. This has spurred me into writing regarding the Rally and the PFA / LAA, where the two Association names sort of define the types of aircraft that are looked after by our engineering team.

They fall broadly into two types:

1. Low and slow (can you tell I built a Pietenpol Aircamper?), and here we are looking at low speed simple aircraft usually built from plans, or aircraft from the classic and vintage era.

2. Complex plans-built aircraft (i.e. Falco), factory manufactured and kit built aircraft and others, where the performance is in the higher speed ranges.

Aircraft in Type 1 are usually fly at 70-90kt when in the cruise, and are probably most comfortable at 60-70kt when flying a quite tight circuit. Indeed, in my Pietenpol I would be not farther out from the runway than twice the runway length, and then when it comes to the landing phase touchdown is probably around 50kt or so, and the ground roll out being about 200 yards or so, possibly less if I was more experienced on type.

Aircraft in Type 2 are usually rather nippy in all phases of flight with 90kt, and greater circuit speed followed by a 70kt, or greater finals, and a ground rollout noticeably greater than Type 1 aircraft.

Type 1 aircraft, if they are travelling from distant strips or from abroad, need, by virtue of their lower performance, the longest possible period of daylight if they are going to visit a fly-in and get back home in one day.

Type 2 aircraft, which are likely by virtue of their having a usually more complete instrument installation and much greater cruise performance, will be capable of operating with a much reduced period of daylight.

This makes me suggest that there could possibly be two fly-ins’ at Popham (the perfect airfield, imho). The first on, or about, the longest day and the other later in the year.

Maybe the Association should sound out the exhibitors etc as to the financial viability of this arrangement for them?

Keith Hodge.

Ed says: Rod and Keith, thanks for your thoughts and suggestions. I know all factors will be given consideration when planning for next year’s LAA Rally.

Thanks for 40 years!

Dear Sir,

After 40 years of membership PFA / LAA, it is time for me to finish.

Over the years I have always enjoyed the many articles and news in your informative magazine.

In particular the many events recorded, plus the many safety items, in particular the articles on Rotax Engines.

Nearly 20 years ago I built a Zenair 701 kit produced in Czechia, and still fly it from my own grass strip.

With 1,000 hours now on it, medical problems and old age have reduced my flying a lot now.

So thank you for a wonderful magazine over four decades, and good luck for the next four!

Yours sincerely, Des O’Brien.

Ed Hicks says: Thanks for 40 years of support Des. All the best for the future!

First solo, worth the wait!

Hi Steve, I just wanted to let you know that I finally did my first solo last week. It took a lot longer to get there than I had hoped, but it was absolutely worth the wait. It was truly a bucket list moment and something that I will never forget.

Thank you again, the Spring Solo bursary made a huge difference and without it reaching this milestone would undoubtedly have taken even longer!

Best, Emily Harding.

Steve Slater says: Emily, Great news and many congratulations!

Magazine archive?

Good evening,

Having been a member of the LAA for about seven years, I’ve patiently waited for the archive copies of PFA/LAA magazines to be digitised and available to search.

It goes without saying that over the many years of publication the magazine contains a wealth of knowledge, advice and information that would be helpful and useful for members to be able to draw on.

I was very fortunate to have been given around 40 years’ worth of back issues shortly after I joined, and I can vouch for how useful they are, however, they’re not digitised and therefore not searchable.

Back in 2016 Brian Hope promised digitisation would be imminent, but so far as I can see, a searchable database of historic magazines isn’t as yet available. Is this ever going to happen, please?

Susan Richardson.

Ed says: I asked Brian Hope about this, and he tells me that a large amount of historical association magazine material has been digitised. However, the project had stalled somewhat over how to make this available as a member resource. I shall look into it further!

Above One big Rally or two smaller events? And if not the familiar September time slot, then what other time in the year?

Straight and Level Updates from LAA HQ

In hindsight…

Steve Slater CEO

Such are copy deadlines, I am writing this effectively on the eve of our AGM, where I’ll be putting forward some ideas for the year ahead. Therefore, it’s worthwhile this month that I precede those ideas by having a quick look back.

I don’t need to tell you about metaphorically ‘pulling in our horns’. Rising inflation and fuel prices both in the air and on the ground are, naturally, impacting sport flying.

I’m ever the optimist though, and from a flying point of view the best time for us to face these challenges is the winter, when we are flying less anyway. I hope by spring our Government will have got its act a bit more together, and some of the extreme price hikes may have come back down again. I did say I was ever the optimist!

Looking back at the past year, we’ve had a number of things to be proud of. We had a highly successful fly in at Popham and our other ‘Meet the LAA’ events have been well-attended too. There are also signs that many flyers from outside the LAA are increasingly buying aircraft and shares in ‘our sort’ of aircraft, in recognition of our lower cost of flying.

Our membership numbers are robust at more than 7,700 and, while the number of aircraft on active Permits has fallen by around

50 this year, we still have more than 2,700 aircraft and more than 1,400 active projects on our ‘fleet’.

We, rightly, have focused a lot of attention on the account fraud perpetrated on the LAA earlier this summer. By the time you read this, we will have made available the independent review of the fraud. The review was carried out by LAA Company Secretary, HH David Mole, QC, (a former Crown Court and Deputy High Court judge, authorised to try serious fraud cases) and independent members John Holden, a former Head of Companies House and LAA member, and David Wheeler, a retired finance officer of several companies, and not an LAA member.

We have, of course, already implemented their findings in an action plan to reduce the risk of such a fraud ever happening again. However the loss of £64,523 from our accounts effectively negated, at a single stroke, the savings we had generated in expenditures this year. This, along with the upward cost pressures particularly in print and utilities, and the planned investment of some of our reserves in engineering restructuring (see more from John Ratcliffe, below) has seen a fall in our reserves from £1,130,000 in 2021, to around £980,000 this year, effectively returning our reserves to 2016 levels. Even though we are predicting a further planned deficit in 2023, it is our aim to achieve a zero-deficit budget in 2024, while at the same time driving greater HQ efficiency, more effective member services and enhanced training offerings. How do we achieve that? Well, if you missed the AGM, watch out for my column next month! ■

It has been an extremely busy summer for LAA Engineering, during which time we said farewell to Ken Craigie on his retirement and welcomed Lucy Wootton as our new Chief Inspector. Unfortunately, Tim Skinner was unable to join us, so we are still in the process of recruiting for another engineer to join our airworthiness team.

Although there are a number of areas that we are working on to further improve the services we offer to members, I continue to be amazed by the huge quantity and variety of work that such a small and dedicated team of eight has been able to achieve in supporting our 7,700 members and more than 4,000 aircraft, of so many different types, promoting LAA flying, while continuing to put safety at the heart of everything we do.

The first stage of updating the Permit revalidation process is underway. There will be the option for owners and Inspectors to complete and email a set of completely revised forms to us, and there will be updated guidance on how to improve the quality of your Permit application. From this we can start evaluating the merits of taking the process fully online.

The introduction of a Mod application prioritisation system has let us rationalise this aspect of the process and we are looking at a means of expanding on the online progress update facilities.

Unfortunately, we have had a couple of instances recently where members applying to register a kit-built project have been found to have received essentially complete aircraft.

Misrepresenting an aircraft in this way breaches the 51% rule, resulting in the aircraft being ineligible to join the LAA fleet or being granted a Permit to Fly (PtF). It is, therefore, essential that the rules are followed for an aircraft to join the amateur-built fleet.

The LAA is a one-stop shop for all engineering needs, from initial advice about the suitability of an aircraft, support throughout a project, design verification and the issue or revalidation of a PtF. During a ‘normal’ day, a considerable amount of our time is spent answering inquiries by email and telephone, in support of our members. Although an important part of our service, this reduces the time that can be dedicated to Mods and Permit applications and getting out in the field to visit you, so please bear in mind the possibility of liaising with your Inspector in the first instance and using the huge amount of information available on our website.

Another issue that we regularly encounter is providing an applicant with a specified list of requirements, for the reply not to provide all of the requested information. This results in timeconsuming calls and emails to chase up the missing information. Please try to provide all of the requested information in one go. We are also sometimes questioned over whether the requested information is really necessary, often citing the different rules in other countries. Please be assured that we only ask for what is required to clear your aircraft to get it in the air.

As always, please keep your feedback coming via engineering@laa.uk.com ■

Engineering update John Ratcliffe Engineering Director

build or restoration project

Compiled by Mike Slaughter

Project News

As if life isn’t generally busy enough, building an aeroplane and gaining that first Permit to Fly generally takes up any spare time that a builder may have. So I think it’s an act of generosity to squeeze a little extra out of the time sponge by getting in touch with Project News and sharing progress in these pages. These project reports are told from many different perspectives, difficulties overcome, new skills learnt to name a few. Among others, Tony Spence has been in touch this month to share a little of his gorgeous looking RV-7 and explains how he owes his avionics success to his past experience with tractors. Hopefully that ‘click bait’ equivalent has sparked your interest enough for you to go and read his report below!

Steve Lloyd’s focus in his RV-8 report is more on how things have changed relatively quickly with regard to sourcing our aircraft and their sub-systems. Not least how the exchange rate changes have

had a significant inflationary effect upon our components. I can recall jumping on one of Sir Freddie Laker’s services a long, long, long time ago when £1 bought you $2.40 – wouldn’t the prospective Van’s builder just love that currency rate now?

Last month John Price started the story of his RV-12iS build, we have the concluding part below. Having test flown, finished the aircraft and had her painted, he includes some performance figures. I think this is an interesting aspect left out of many project reports, it’s natural curiosity to wonder about such parameters of how fast, at what revs, using how much fuel, what disposable load and so on.

Project News relies upon the good nature of our fellow members making the effort to get in touch with Project News. So please, if you are building, do share your experience with us, your fellow members. To tell your story, report a milestone or just to send a picture, email: projectnews@laa.uk.com. Please share your story!

Tony gained his licence 34 years ago and for 10 years owned an aerobatic Robin. Following this he found his way into paragliding and that led him to a paramotor. Then as life intervened, he simply fell out of flying.

A few years ago, having retired from farming, Tony started to get the itch to build his own aircraft and get back into flying. He re-validated his licence and set about locating his local LAA Inspector. Fate put him in touch with Vernon ‘Oz’ Millard, who was an old friend and flying buddy he’d lost touch with some time ago, he’d not only found himself an Inspector, but an old chum as well, all in one go. Oz confirmed that the RV-7 would be an ideal choice for a project but urged he opt for the quick build kit, suggesting that building the empennage would almost certainly satisfy his desire for driving rivets as there is still plenty more building to do even on a quick build. Tony says he was absolutely correct, and was happy to have had the fabrication experience on the tail, but felt he’d done enough riveting by its completion. An RV-7 quick build kit was ordered and fortunately arrived before the world shut down, which meant his build became the ideal lockdown and retirement project.

Built by Tony Spencer

G-CLPY (LAA 323-15550) Van’s RV-7

Above An extremely comprehensive Garmin equipped panel.

Inspiring members to take on their own aircraft

From the beginning the project was conceived as night IFR and much effort was put into research at an early stage to achieve this goal. Tony said he ‘grew up’ in his flying with steam gauges, but was just amazed upon his return to light aviation at the capabilities of modern EFIS systems, SkyDemon and Electronic Conspicuity that we are now able to fit to a Permit aircraft. As a farmer, he’d been astounded at the capabilities of modern tractor GPS guidance systems but learned very quickly that as capable as they may be, components from different manufacturers are often not very good at talking to one

another. So from the outset he was determined to keep everything in the aircraft from one manufacturer. This resulted in a full Garmin system based around a G3X.

He designed and carried out all of the wiring himself and, while not qualified in that area, farmers are generally very practical self-taught people. Tony says that it’s been great fun over the last 2-3 years building the aircraft and that the first proving flight took place on 3 October 2022. At the controls was another old flying buddy, Phil O’Donahue or ‘Pod’, who Tony had also lost touch with until he handled Tony’s licence revalidation.

Left Tony’s installed the Supertracks modification that allows the canopy to slide open further, providing great access for loading baggage.

G-CMDS (LAA 303-15582) Van’s RV-8

Built by Steve Lloyd

Sand yet he is a serial builder with a couple of RVs in his portfolio. He confesses that his passion is for formation aerobatics and, as well as RVs, he’s also enjoyed owning a Jet Provost and a Yak 52 – I also detect a strong interest in classic cars.

When I had a brief conversation with him, he suggested this will be his last RV build as they are just becoming so expensive. It’s not just the kit price and the exchange rate, but also engines and avionics have seen significant hikes. Equally, delivery times have also become very extended for those same items as well. He suggests the cost to build has easily doubled since

Above Steve is a member of the Ravens display team, so the aircraft carries their colours.

Below left Now, I’m sure I dropped that fiver down here somewhere….

Below right One man, two passions, classic cars and aerobatics.

built one 10 years ago, your money would probably have doubled by now. Try that with a 10-year-old car!

Steve’s advice to anyone building an RV, or indeed most LAA types is, ‘keep it simple, keep it regular, you’re not building an airliner’.

For his instrumentation he is a keen glass fan but suggests he’ll always go for MGL, just as capable and feature rich, but it’s a brand without the profile or price tag. In fact, viewed in his own very pragmatic way, he suggests most such systems are like a 60 programme dishwasher you may buy, you’ll only ever end up using two of them.

Part Two by John Price G-NCLA (LAA 363-15643) RV-12 iS

We pick up with John having built the basic airframe, after a self imposed delay in the build (clanger!), he now has some very expensive items to insert in the big green thing – over to John…

When more new bits arrive, you can get on with adding them to your creation all over again, or as in my case, attaching the engine and inserting the wiring. The latter came in a big box and looked like the Gordian Knot. It’s called a loom and comes with many, many, multi-coloured, numbered wires. It must have taken me at least an hour to lay it out on a large workbench, just to figure out what bits go where. A word of warning here, only add the connectors to the cable when it says so in the instructions, as some big wires must go through some not-so-big holes, and connectors make it rather awkward. I found the loom to be the weak point of the whole build. The loom is sub-contracted out to one of the better avionics’ companies in the US. I had six faults.

Not with the quality of the loom nor the wiring, but some of the pins were in the wrong positions on the connectors. I should’ve taken a day to check them against the supplied wiring diagram. ‘Fault chasing’ once everything was installed was a biblical faff and took about three days, a multimeter, bad language and an awful lot of head scratching to find them all.

I will freely admit that there were two squeaky pants moments – the first time you power up the electrics and the first engine start. Being as these two things are also the most expensive, your mind runs completely amok as you look for wisps of smoke, the acrid smell of burning plastics and or the graunching of metal on metal in a gearbox.

Paperwork equals aircraft weight…

Finally, the day arrives. So as my Inspector stated, ‘when the weight of the paperwork equals the weight of the aircraft, it’s about time to go flying’. All the forms went off to mission control in Turweston, and back came yet more bits of paper, but one gave me permission to test. I carried out the first flight on 1 June 2022. A few days later, Steve (remember him?), and I took to the air to carry out the full test procedure. This all went very well. As I write, I’m waiting for the full Permit to Fly to land on my door mat. This will be the second RV-12 iS flying on the UK register and my approximate build time equates from winter 2019 until late spring 2022. Don’t ask about the hours as I didn’t use a clock.

The aircraft is a very clever kit. The selling point of ‘you only need to add fluids and paint’ is correct, that’s it. The LAA insists upon one or two other bits, but this isn’t onerous. The modular construction means that you always have a successful build milestone after a few days. This keeps the inertia of the build going, this, almost above everything else, is very important. The fuel-injected Rotax 912 iS with its computer-controlled engine management works really well. You just set the ‘thrust lever’, OK, throttle, to the power you want and leave it there. It works out the engine parameters, air temperature, pressure and sorts everything out for you. So you get an Eco mode – yeah, me neither – or power

the engine to turn up.

Left With the engine fitted, now where to put all the spaghetti.

Below left My first and only attempt at fibreglass work making the front canopy fairing.

Below right Attempting to fit a cowling and make it all line up.

Above First squeaky pants moment, turning on the power to discover I’m getting amps from somewhere.

mode which uses more fuel and gets you there about two minutes quicker! The engine itself has a large electrical power output so you can run just about anything you want. It also has one or two quirks such as no magnetos or separate ignition modules. These are called ‘lanes’ –again, me neither – these do virtually the same as magnetos, or modules, except control two ignition systems that work from two parts of the engine management computer. They also control the electric loading from two voltage regulators through the aforementioned computer-controlled management system to the… OK, I lost you there! But if you follow the checklist it works and really is a doddle.

My initial impressions are that the aircraft flies very well and is a joy to operate. It takes off and climbs quickly. The controls are well harmonised, and the aircraft is nicely balanced. The test flying was well, a bit boring, which, if I think about it, is high praise. It just did everything exactly as promised. Indeed, the only things that needed adjustment were the stall warner and the rudder trim, that’s all!

As for performance, here are some figures, unpainted. Empty weight 787lb, MTOW 1320lb, useful load is 533lb. Max fuel 65 litres, enough for four hours. Speeds, at an economy cruise of 4,600rpm gives 85kt IAS and 12lph, 5,000rpm gives 100kt and 15lph, and finally the Max continuous of 5,500rpm is 108kt and 19lph.

I’m not going to wax lyrical about ‘going on an emotional builder’s journey’, but you generally do learn a thing or two about engineering, and something about yourself. Those thoughts are mine and if, as you read this, you’re thinking about taking the plunge you could do much worse than consider the RV-12. Ninety-nine per cent of it can be built in a single garage with basic tools, and a modicum of patience, all on your own!

At this juncture, I should point out that I’m not on a percentage, but if you add my builder’s number, as a referral, on your Van’s order I will get a free tee shirt. Fair enough…

Some gems to share…

Some gems which I will pass on… Don’t try to build a ‘100%’ aeroplane, you’ll never finish it as there will always be something to tweak, adjust, rub down and repaint. In fact, 95%-97% is good enough. Shouting and bad language does not encourage help from the ‘The Force’ to assist in any way! Do register for the numerous builders’ forums etc. There is a RV-12 builders WhatsApp group which I joined, too. Here I met some nice, equally mad, fellow builders who became a goldmine of information. We shared each other’s pain and laughed about it as well. Plan ahead for everything. P.P.P.P.P.P. You know what it means. Pick others’ brains by all means, but, in the end the decision becomes yours (and your Inspectors)! Standard Mods are better than your own made-up ones, the paperwork is much less. The LAA run various courses for various homebuilder disciplines. Take advantage of these – I immensely enjoyed the metal assembly one. If you can build a toolbox, you can build an RV. Attend and you’ll find out what I’m on about. I did, and did!

If during construction you have a brain freeze, STOP! Take the dog for a walk or go and cut the grass, anything really to have a think. For 75% of the time the bell will ring in your head, a light will illuminate and you’ll have solved it. The other 25% of the time is what the builders’ forums are for.

You will also become adept at making other things to make your build life just that little bit easier, such as wing cradles, work horses, insulated / heated storage cabinets and the such like. You will also take on the persona of a tool maker, in that you will fabricate tools, widgets and gadgets to reach around corners or into tiny little cavities to access a clip or nut that you forgot to insert 35 pages before. You will also gain, with a high degree of accuracy, without a gauge, the ability to look at a row of solid rivets and see the one that is under set.

There is, of course, a bit of a downside. Suddenly, without any warning you will, sort of, take on this aura of knowledge. Not just aeronautical knowledge, but all knowledge. You will be required, by your friends and family, to fix things as random as toasters, oil central heating boilers or, I kid you not, a seized field topper (the thing a big tractor drags around to cut deep grass). Any

Above A ground run for the completed aircraft, minus paint. Below First engine start, second squeaky pants moment. Will it work?

objection about ‘not having a clue’ is generally dismissed with ‘you built an aeroplane, didn’t you?’

So now that I’ve bored you all, and I can hear some virtual snoring at the back, it’s time for the inevitable ‘thanks to…’. Steve, yep him again, for putting up with me as a co-owner of our other aeroplane, and 37 years of friendship. The legend, in these here parts, who is Alan Bennett-Turner my Inspector, the font of all knowledge!

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

■ TL2000UK Sting Carbon S4 (LAA 347A15846) 30/8/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

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-CLPY Van’s RV-7 (LAA 323-15550) 26/9/2022

Mr Antony Spencer, Castle Oak, Castle Road, Offton, Ipswich, IP8 4RN

■ G-BUFG Slingsby T61f Venture T MK2 (s/n 1977) 14/9/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-CIGF Slingsby T61f Venture T MK2 (s/n 1983) 21/9/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-CLGI Glastar (PFA 295-14561) 2/9/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-CMJB Streak Shadow SLA (PFA 206-13735) 14/9/2022

Above John’s RV-12iS is fully painted and ready for many enjoyable hours flying.

The ‘WhattsAppers’ not restricted to ‘the gruesome twosome’, thanks to the fuel pump MOD guys. The Garmin Guru, well his name says it all! Europa Bob, and his fibreglass skills, I laughed!

But my biggest thank you goes to the poor soul, who in a moment of complete lunacy, 35 years ago, decided to share her life with me, and to that end, my RV-12iS carries her name. ■

■ Monnett Sonerai IIL (LAA 015A-15847)

5/9/2022

Mr D J Howell, 70 High Street, Kinver, South Staffs., DY7 6ER

■ Zenair CH-750 (LAA 381-15848) 15/9/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ Van’s RV-7 (LAA 323-15851) 28/9/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ Just Superstol XL (LAA 397-15849) 20/9/2022

Mr P Wilkinson, Woodland Grange, Everingham, York. YO42 4JA

■ KFA Safari (LAA 402-15850) 21/9/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-ETGO Groppo Trail MK 2 (LAA 37215462) 5/9/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-GBSD TL2000UK Sting Carbon S4 (LAA 347A-15804)

15/9/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-HWPK Sling 4 (LAA 400-15721) 7/9/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-OHII Van’s RV-7 (s/n 70150) 2/9/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-ORPC Europa XS (PFA 247-13521)

26/9/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

■ G-PTSI Sling 4 TSi (LAA 400A-15790) 22/9/2022

Name & Address held by LAA Engineering

Above Tom Pickford's lovely Van's RV-7, imported as a completed aircraft from the US and powered by a 210hp Lycoming IO-390.

Childhood Cub

Clive Davidson flies a beautifully restored aeronautical family heirloom – and truly cultured Piper Cub

Photos Neil Wilson

Flight Test

It was a case of being in at the deep end. Lightning was flashing away to my right and I was deviating further and further off track westerly into France to avoid both the CBs, turbulence and darkly threatening skies. Dear old Aunty Ivy, my J3 Cub G-AGIV, was tolerating the conditions with the odd pivoting lurch and bumpy path at a ground speed of just 35kt. This implied the winds at play were around the 25kt mark. Not so good. I should not have been there. I had left Bremgarten on the Rhine’s eastern bank where the Allison engined Yak 3 that I had been test flying had an approach speed as low as Aunty’s 106kt Vne. Certainly a contrast. Normally my homeward flight could be completed within a long day of seven hours… this time the logged journey took more than an unfortunate 13. Had it been a film script I would have spent the night having met someone wonderful, but sadly, reality rarely bestows such a rich storyline, Aunty at least, had hangarage.

After that flight, with Aunty safely ensconced at my home airfield, with both my hands wrapped around a warming mug of tea, I decided rather reluctantly to syndicate her. Travelling, rather than just flying, was really using her for the wrong purpose. It was a gradual parting, having satisfied that her new carers were both competent and safe; guiding her around the home hills, I said goodbye. I didn’t fly a Cub again.

Fifteen years later however, and I found myself getting reacquainted with the type, good fortune sending me airborne with Mike Greenland in his family’s J3 for this flight test.

Old familiar

The old familiar Piper Cub is an aircraft that brings a smile to faces, whether as a young pilot recently sent solo, grinning to themselves as a hand plays in the slipstream through the open doors, or from a seasoned spotter’s point of view. Its straight wing with a rounded tips silhouette, easily identified. The Cub is certainly loved by all. It has good manners, is quiet, well behaved, mechanically simple, comparatively inexpensive to fly, but challenging enough to act as a trainer and slightly awkward to manoeuvre in a tight spaced hangar, thanks to its 35ft 3in wingspan. In its traditional colour of Loch Haven yellow, named for the Piper Aircraft construction

Inset ‘CH as it was when in Switzerland, and the Bordbuch stamps. Note

plant, it is even simpler to spot the civilian J3. Furthermore, the generic distinction, apart from the dark matt green applied to the military observation version designated as the L4, is the additional glazing behind the rear seat, so as to increase the scanning range. After all, it was flown, low and slow, as an observation craft, in and out of fields – the Grasshopper – designated first as O-59, then L4 by the USAAC and USAAF during WWII engaging in liaison duties, to spot for artillery and advancing units, as well as providing medical extractions. Typically the enemy did not fire upon such ‘voyeurs’ so as not to give their position away. But nothing stands still, and as tactics changed with isolated aggressive actions by bazooka-armed Cubs, enemy soldiers who managed to down an observation aircraft were rewarded leave and the award of an Iron Cross. Quite an incentive.

Turning back the pages, in 1938 with growing unrest within central Europe and the expansionist Japanese policies a full four years before the United States was

attacked at Pearl Harbour, there was an insightful incentive to increase the number of trained pilots. The Civilian Pilot Training Program (excuse the missing ‘me’, it is an accurate transatlantic spelling), was promptly established. The United States, all 48 of them then, under the support of Franklin D Roosevelt sponsored the training of civilian pilots. This was greatly influenced by being militarily prepared to counter the worsening Nazi aggression by Hitler and his transformed Germany. The intended target being 20,000 pilots a year. The CPTP flew 12,000,000 hours in five years, training 435,165 pilots from 1,132 colleges and 1,460 flight schools. The trainer of choice, the Piper Cub.

It has been estimated that 75% of all new pilots of the CPTP scheme were trained on Cubs. Furthermore, 80% of all military pilots of the US had received their ab Initio / initial flight training on the Cub by the end of hostilities. A record and an outstanding achievement.

Of 19,073 Cubs built, estimates put the number of Cubs still airworthy at around 5,500 Cubs. In 2017 some 85-plus attended the type’s 80th anniversary at AirVenture, Oshkosh.

Left behind

Many of the Cubs were left behind after WWII throughout Europe, where local clubs were formed around them. My own 'IV was ex 8th Air Force and had been in Belgium, originally as an L4 with the greenhouse glass, before later changing to the shorter, rear curved plexiglass area of the J3. As it was for many others of the marque, including

Above Michael Greenland and his family Cub.

the one for Casablanca.

“

The CPTP flew 12,000,000 hours in five years, training 435,165 pilots from 1,132 colleges and 1,460 flight schools – using Piper Cubs”

the subject here. Michael Greenland's G-LOCH, previously HB-OCH as a Swiss resident. The airframe still carries its distinctive National tail of a Swiss white cross on a ‘field’ of red across the fin and rudder, while the rest is elegant in overall cream and several stripes of blue on the wings and fuselage and sweeping stripes around its wheel spats.

The earliest paperwork shows that ‘CH was based at flughafen Zurich Kloten (Airport) now the ‘Heathrow of Switzerland’, and operated by the 1959 Motorflug Groupe (a literal translation of motor flying group, as opposed to a gliding club, the translated compound Segelflugclub.)

Our recording system calls for two separate books: a copy of CAP 398, an Aircraft Log Book recording all flight times and CAP 399, and the Engine Log Book in which all engine operating times and maintenance is accurately noted and signed by an engineer.

Our LAA and CAA log records are similar to the Swiss system, but the Swiss also have a Journey Log Book that records each airfield visited by the named pilot. ‘CH’s book shows many local flights, but there is one that Michael pointed out to me showing the multiple airfields visited en route to Casablanca! The trip was apparently a couple making a honeymoon journey, during which they gained a stray dog, who flew home with them. For those who have seen the narrow tandem cockpit of the Cub, and possibly taken a dog aloft in any aircraft, may be slightly surprised at this. I certainly was, and no doubt some Customs officials were too, perhaps? Other journeys were to Gibraltar, Ascona (Italy) and Woburn (England).

Flicking through historic paperwork, certificates and the aircraft manual are all in four languages. German, French and Italian, these being spoken in separate cantons within Switzerland and then recorded in English, the international language of the air… which to say the least ‘upset’ a certain tall Gaul who Churchill described him as a startled Llama (a slightly unfair quip… to the animal of course). Yes, Charles de Gaulle.

Within the pilot’s notes I particularly liked finding a simple diagram of the circuit where each stage is accompanied with speed settings for the C65/C75 grouped with the same rpm and the C85/C90 of a slightly increased power in all four languages. The vocabulary for ‘Checks’ are: Kontrolle (German), Controles ( French – my keyboard lacks the hatted circumflex accent which should be sitting over the letter o) and Controlli (must be Italian). The climb after take of is flown at 60mph giving 450ft per minute with 65hp, the downwind speed being whatever the revs for the power setting suggested 2,150 or 2,300rpm before base in descending ‘sinkflug’ (precise and descriptive German of course) at 65mph, then again at 60mph finals where the ‘endanflug kontrolle’ will be done. Succinct! Knapp! Succinct! (the French concur) Succinto!

Family history

Mosquitoes, and his father John learned to fly with Volunteer Reserve. He had attended a technical school primarily in woodwork and worked at de Havilland. He flew commercially in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, in the beautiful twin Gipsy Queen-powered Dove and the four Gipsy Queen-engined Heron for Central African Airways. Returning north to closer shores he flew the same aircraft for Jersey Airways and then progressed to Swiss Air with a brief spell at Bristol Filton, where Michael was born. He flew with mostly ex-RAF bomber types at BAE Systems before relocating to Switzerland where he flew DC-8s as a co-pilot. Captaincy followed on the DC-9, the Convair 990 Coronado and lastly the Boeing 747, retiring at the sprightly age of 57.

While the end of his airline flying, as well as the Cub, John had gathered a collection of very interesting aircraft on the way. A Fairchild Argus, powered by a Ranger in-line engine, was registered HB-EPF, which transferred to our CAA register to become G-LEPF, but now it resides in the States. John also built a PFA registered replica Comper Swift, G-LCGL. The small, high-wing, single-seat racer was powered by a Pobjoy Niagara radial. This

Michael’s grandfather, Jack Greenland, flew in the Royal Flying Corp, and later as a test pilot of de Havilland

Above The simple utilitarian cockpit and panel. Its patina carried over, undisturbed during recent restoration.

Pobjoy had an off-centre mechanical reduction gear for propeller efficiency to fully utilise the power. Its registration is close to an original surviving Swift at the Cosford Museum – G-ACGL. This is now at Breighton with the Real Aeroplane Company. The final aircraft on the list was a DH60G Gipsy Moth G-ATBL, powered by an upright four cylinder Gipsy 1 producing 85hp at 1,900rpm. This was flown from John’s home strip at Black Acre Farm, near Holt in Wiltshire.

The Cub was Michael’s first introduction to flying at the age of 12 when he had a truly memorable local flight of 58 minutes. There was no snow on the airfield, but there was on the surrounding mountains, a scenic contrast to cherish as a fond memory.

In the summer of 1978, aged 14, he flew from Switzerland with his father to the UK, overnighting in Nancy. The route and leg times being: Basel (1.23) Nancy (1.21) Reims (1.32) Calais (2.04) Lydd (.46) Elstree (1.31), making a tally of 8hr and 27min airborne, on their way to the Sywell PFA Rally in June. (A quick delve into my own log book shows it was a dull dreary grey and windy day when I flew there in Auster G-AIBX

Such a background of family flying was bound to have an underlying natural influence, and Michael started training courtesy of the ATC gliding at Kinloss in a 1944 built Slingsby T21 (Sedbergh TX.1). In June 1982 he joined the Royal Navy, training at Topcliffe on the Bulldog the following year, before moving onto rotary at Culdrose with the Gazelle. A step up in both weight, size, complexity and the power took him to the Sea King Mk IV. Its two 1,600shp Rolls-Royce Gnome turboshaft engines being so vibration free, you could place a glass of milk on the coaming and it wouldn’t show a ripple of disturbance. His metal being tested, and the rules slightly bent when becoming deck qualified, with a landing on a very dark and stormy night with a memorable swell as an ‘unusual’ two junior non comm’s crew in a multi-million pound aircraft!

After anti submarines, Michael flew the Westland Gazelle as an instructor, but also with the Sharks Royal Navy display team, later being their solo display pilot. Then (excuse the following apt expression) a change of boats midstream to fly fixed-wing again, the path being ‘graded’ on the Chipmunk, a revisit of the Bulldog, stepping up to the Harrier via the Hunter T8M. Now that really is an enviably broad span of types in a fellow’s logbook! A further non-aviation change saw him as second in command of a Royal Naval frigate at the turn of the century. Postings of both land and sea have followed including the ‘Dead Fish Police’, encouraging the Spanish ships to chuck back their lifeless undersized Tuna haul into the briny. He is still airborne in both rotary and fixed-wing, rotary for work and Cub as fixed-wing for fun,

Above A beautiful blue sky in which one can savour flight. The Cub excels here, allowing you to fly with that big window and door up and open.

“

In the summer of 1978, aged 14, Michael and his father flew the Cub from Switzerland to the UK, to attend the Sywell PFA Rally”

most recently out of Yeovilton, but soon to be from Middlezoy.

Restoration

‘Nothing stays the same’ is an old, old observation that is pertinent to so many aspects of life and our associated objects. The patina produced by use and age adds a certain flavour of character with use, time and wear. But, so anything mechanical that is in use will have to be appropriately attended to, possibly rectified or replaced.

Sywell-based LAA Inspector and engineer, Matthew Boddington, was given the task of rejuvenating Oscar Charlie, but with the instruction that the interior itself was to remain untouched, as Michael wished for it to maintain its comfortable originality. Moving with the times did, however, bring an 8.33 radio and a transponder mounted out of the way above the head of the front seater, in reach of the P1 (rear) seat. The original external cotton covering was replaced by Ceconite, but was resprayed to the same colour scheme.

During the restoration, there was an opportunity to check some of the enhancements fitted to ‘CH during its time in Switzerland, when it was sitting beside another Cub in the workshop. Several things struck them. The undercarriage main gear suspension, which was originally bungee shocks under leather covers, was now damped by hydraulics, and these in turn make ‘CH stand slightly taller. Disc brakes have been fitted, hidden by the spats. The glazing is also of a greater thickness and there seem to be fewer supporting bars within the window

Left

Below

Above The Swiss modified undercarriage struts and wide spats.

One-piece cabin skylight is also different.

Tandem seating and ‘acres’ of plexiglass for near all round vision.

Below There aren’t many aircraft that can beat the Cub for true joy of flight… check out Michael’s smile!

frames. Two wing tanks are also fitted in place of the original single fuel tank in the fuselage. ‘CH has also been fitted with a 90hp Continental C90.

Restoration complete, G-LOCH was a worthy winner of the Best Vintage Piper trophy at the 2021 LAA Rally.

In the cockpit

The only complexity about this Cub cockpit is the awkwardness of actually getting into the seats. Place a right foot onto an angled, metal framed step perfect for anybody with smaller feet, while ducking your head down, lean into the cockpit, hands on the back frame of the front seat, bring a flexible leg and left foot up and through to the far side of the upward poking stick, stopping somewhere between a half-stand and crouch, then having not got your foot caught in the outside step, bring it in and settle onto the seat.

The matt black panel has six instruments: five in a row

and one on top. From left to right there is an ASI in MPH, an RPM gauge, a small central compass with its correction card under the adjacent altimeter and then what looks like a ‘civilian’, cream-faced oil combined temperature and pressure dial. The last, a VSI with 100ft per minute graduations is mounted above the others. If you’re solo and in the rear P1 seat, it’s not possible to adjust the altimeter subscale without undoing straps and leaning forward, although I have seen the altimeter positioned on the extreme right, a short piece of fuel tubing fitting snugly over the knob and a cane reaching back on the fuselage wall so it may be twisted for an easier adjustment. A primer is far right and a cabin heater knob is above the oil gauges. Where is the carb heat? It’s on the right-hand side cabin wall, again a bit of a reach from the back seat. The red-topped throttles sit in tandem along the left cockpit window rail. Sitting in both wing roots are the fuel content indicators, slightly angled forward of the vertical. Absolutely brimming together, the two tanks hold 66 litres. However, of the last five litres for both sides, there is no indication. Think I would avoid the need to be aware of that. The rotary-style mag switch is up in the port wing root as are the headset jacks.

The trimmer falls to hand down from the throttle and is an unusual old-style car window winder, winding forward for nose down trim. The trim is actually achieved by the then novel and still unusual method of altering the angle of tailplane incidence in the airflow and not by a tab. As

“Restoration complete, the G-LOCH was the worthy winner of the Best Vintage Piper trophy at the 2021 LAA Rally”

the Cub winder handle is wound backwards, it trims nose up. It’s a lovely engineering solution. PA28s, and others I am sure, use a similar winder, but in the Cherokee it is ceiling/roof mounted, rather similar to opening a sunroof (remember those?).

The field of view has to be one of its great assets. True, upwards is only catered for by the canopy extending between the wings and the rest of the blue shielded by those 35ft wings, but the view laterally clockwise from seven through the slight rise of the nose to five o’clock is good, assuming you can bob about to see beyond the front seat passenger who will probably want to prevent you from meeting another winged or stationary object. If you need to stop, then remember it’s heel brakes, not toe.

A taxi over wet grass will definitely need a carb heat check. Power rises to 1,750 revs and an anticipated left and right mag drop is between 75-100rpm with a full recovery on both.

Grasshopper

The take-off is best achieved into wind of course, but having kept straight with right rudder anticipating the application of power, the tail may be brought up to the level attitude after a count of four and a movement of the ASI needle passes 20, so that now the nose is below the horizon at a sedate and easily held attitude with no nose nodding as if the undercarriage was flexing under pressure. The perfect attitude is one where she flies herself off the strip at a very gentle angle allowing her to accelerate in ground effect, before climbing away at 60kt. Allowing for technique, this will take just more than 120 yards. And you still have to climb out and miss those hypothetical 50ft trees. The book climb figures for a standard 65hp Cub is 450ft a minute, that would be recorded in one of our LAA Permit flight renewals from 1,000 to 2,000ft taking 133 seconds / two minutes and 13 seconds.

However, we have the benefit of 90hp up front, an increase of 25hp. This certainly helps in gaining height, but is not so advantageous in the cruise. Michael tells me with 80kg pilots and half tanks, the climb is nearing the 800ft per minute mark, so it does climb pretty well.

In the cruise ‘LH’s C90 burns 22 litres an hour, so that combined 66 litre capacity can keep her safely aloft for two and a half hours. Standard ops are that the left tank is used first, then after 30 mins, the right tank is selected, when that reduces to the same level as the left tank, that is then selected, and so on. Cruise rpm is 2,300. There is a faded, but very good reminder, on a placard that states that aircraft fuelled with mogas operate in compliance with Airworthiness Notice No.98 should stick to below 6,000ft and max fuel temp 20°C.

Stalls are gentle with a slight shrugging as Bernoulli’s grasp slips away from the descending wings. Stick forces and rate of roll are not high or fast, but there is a need for balancing footwork as there’s plenty of adverse aileron drag to pull the nose away from an aileron only roll into a

banked attitude. Strangely enough, for an observation aircraft with its mass under the wing, its lateral stability is weak and doesn't intend to return to wings level from the right wing low at more than a leisurely rate, but kept wing low for a side slip can often just sit there, wing low. Stability in both pitch and direction are much better and have instincts to return to the norm.

With the doors swung open in flight, this is where the Cub, of all its marques, reigns supreme. From here in the comfort of an otherwise enclosed cabin, the world is literally at your feet. And the views are in the highest of classes. There is no rush of wind into the cockpit, no rush to see the world go by, just a gentle passage of scenery, while delighting in being up and about.

It’s also a contrast for Michael, who has been recently active on the Squirrel HT1 and Bell Griffin HT1 Helicopters. Perhaps it is fitting to quote from the unit’s Latin motto, ‘Gaudeo Volatu’. I take joy from flight.

May I wish the enlightened sustaining number of pilot owners and their Cubs many more satisfying years and hours of flavoursome, safe flying. ■

PIPER J3C-65 CUB SPECIFICATIONS

General characteristics

Length 22ft 5in

Wingspan 35ft 3in

Wing Area 178.5 sq ft

Tare (Empty Wt) 345kg / 765lb MTOW 553kg / 1,223lb.

Wing Loading 6.85lb per square ft.

Power Loading (Original 65hp) 18.8lb per hp. (90hp) 13.6lb per hp.

Fuel Capacity 45/66 litres

Performance

Cruise Speed 75mph.

Stall Speed 35kt / 40.25mph.

Range 220 statute miles

Engine Continental Motors Corp C90-85

Propeller McCauley 1B90/CM7146

Above The long span straight wings with curved tips are clearly shown on the formation break.

The Munro dash

Derek Pake set out to fly over – and ‘bag’ from the air – all 282 mountain summits above 3,000ft in Scotland… and all in 24 hours!

I’ve always fancied trying the Pooleys Dawn to Dusk Competition. I love flying but also have a passion for the great outdoors. I regularly enjoy mountain flying in Scotland, where the views on a fine day can be truly breathtaking, but with a healthy respect for the mountains, on land and in the air.

Local weather conditions can change instantly, but this all adds a rewarding challenge to making a safe flight.

Combining my two interests created a challenge to fly

over all the 3,000ft high summits in Scotland, collectively known as Munros, in a day.

My passenger would be mountaineer and sustainable and renewable energy investment expert, Adam Forsyth, and so another strand to our challenge would be to promote the decarbonisation of aviation during our trip. After all, flying around burning avgas for several hours over wild and unspoilt landscapes might be seen as environmentally unfriendly by some, so we wanted to help show that work is being done to develop and introduce

low or zero carbon fuels for aviation.

The Munros

Sir Hugh Munro was a mountaineer and in 1891 published a table of 33,000ft high Scottish mountain summits. Completing the ‘Munros’ remains a challenge for hillwalkers and mountaineers, with the ticking off of summits called affectionately ‘Munro Bagging’. Today there are 282 Munros on the official list published and maintained by the Scottish Mountaineering Club.

Sustainable fuel

We all know of the challenge to find fuel that is not only producing low or zero carbon, but is also sustainable and moves us away from fossil fuel dependence. Such fuels are under development and may be available commercially in around five years’ time, which gives us hope that General Aviation will have an option for continued operation, via electric power, hydrogen power, or by using synthetic or sustainable versions of avgas products.

Dr Massimiliano Materrazi, based at the University College London, specialises in leading bioenergy and biofuels research, and kindly agreed to provide us with a small blend of ‘sustainable avgas’ to use during the challenge, helping to highlight this development work. To meet current regulations, the amount of fuel added was of course very small, but nevertheless symbolic of the future. Needless to say, there was no noticeable difference to the operation of the aircraft engine during the challenge.

Charity fundraising

The challenge was also about charity fundraising too, with the chosen charities reflecting aviation and the mountains, so we chose aeroBILITY, the disabled flying charity, and the Search and Rescue Aerial Association (SARAA), which provide drone training and equipment for mountain rescue teams. To date we have raised more than £3,400, split between the two charities.

Our aircraft

We would fly the challenge in G-WEEV, a Van’s RV-8 and affectionately known as ‘Wee Vans’. Built by former RAF and airline pilot Bob Ellis, originally as G-JBTR, she first flew in 2012. Bob and ‘TR’ also won the Royal Aero Club British Air Racing Championship in 2015. G-JBTR has also appeared in LAA brochures. In 2017 she came to Scotland and in 2019 she was re-registered as G-WEEV, and a new paint scheme applied.

The RV-8 is a capable tourer with a cruise speed of around 150-160kt and so an ideal platform for a Dawn to Dusk Competition. Powered by a Lycoming IO-360-M1B engine with inverted fuel and oil systems, normal cruising fuel consumption is 31 to 35 litres per hour, and with 158

Above Paper planning charts and guidebook. An electronic database and SkyDemon were much easier to use!

litres fuel capacity, endurance is four hours plus 30 minutes VFR reserve.

Mission planning

For route planning, an Excel database of the Munro summits provided us with each summit name, height, and most importantly for navigation, the latitude and longitude.

Looking at Munro specific publications and the CAA half-mil charts did not particularly make planning a route easy, but with the database imported into the SkyDemon App as User defined Waypoints, I now had 282 little circles which I could then join up. A natural order of completing the summits fell out of this process, along with optimum airfields for fuel and crew breaks.

Departing Prestwick with a solo flight to Fife Airport, I’d brief and collect crew member Adam, plus fill the aircraft with fuel, not forgetting to add our ‘sustainable avgas’ sample of course! We would then fly over the Lindertis Estate, Kirriemuir, and tip a wing in salute to Sir Hugh resting at his family’s ancestral home, before covering the Eastern, Central, and Southern Munros, with a fuel and lunch stop in Oban. So, onwards to Glencoe and Ben Nevis, across to the Monadhliath Mountains, and back west to zigzag up the west coast and the Isle of Skye, to Ben Hope, the most Northerly Munro, before heading to Inverness to end the challenge.

The planned legs were based on a cruising speed of 150kt and a fuel burn of 35 litres per hour with a 30 minute reserve and 5% contingency (below).

Below On (electronic) paper it all looked feasible and achievable in daylight hours.

Weather

Scottish weather was always going to be the most unpredictable factor, and one over which we had absolutely no control. Scotland’s geography has its own weather generators, such as turbulence and cloud formation over high terrain, regular precipitation in the west from Atlantic weather systems, and summer fog and low cloud on the east coast as a result of haar, or sea fog, coming off the cold North Sea. We would need a lot of luck.

Pre-flight prep

Multiple weather sources indicated that although the south of Scotland and the rest of the UK was basking in high temperatures and sunshine, a weather front running from south-west to north-east over the west and north of Scotland, was giving low cloud and precipitation, albeit it was moving slowly north-eastwards. On the day of our challenge, initial low cloud was forecast to burn off, but some haar might linger on eastern estuaries and coasts, and there was also a chance of low cloud and fog forming in isolated areas in the evening. This was much better than we could have hoped for, and it looked very much like the mountain tops would all be in the clear.

Refuelling would take place at Fife, adding our sustainable fuel sample, with a further fill up at Oban to give us enough endurance to complete the challenge before landing at Inverness.

Flying over large areas of inhospitable and rough terrain also focuses the mind on possible diversion airfields in the event of unforeseen or emergency situations, especially with relatively few airfields in northern Scotland. Personal experience helped produce a diversion list of around 10 airfields, which we hoped not to use.

Leg 1: Prestwick-Fife

With a few hours weather delay, I got airborne from Prestwick at 0916L in CAVOK. Arriving overhead Fife there was solid cloud below, however about three miles south of the airfield was a large east-west hole in the cloud. The ground was clearly in sight below it with an 800ft ceiling, so I dropped down for a look, knowing I had several miles of VMC to climb back out if required. Fife was clearly visible and I landed at 0948L.

Leg 2: Fife-Oban-Glenforsa

At Fife I added 105L of avgas plus our small sample of Sustainable Fuel, which was put into one fuel tank only to give a degree of redundancy should there be any problem, departing close to max take-off weight of 1,800lb at 1137L. We passed over Sir Hugh Munro’s family estate, with a couple of orbits over the woods where he lies, to pay our respects before we continued to our first of the planned 98 Munros on this leg, Mount Keen (3081ft), the most easterly Munro. Then it was west and

Above Our plan for the first Munro Bagging leg, from Fife to Oban.

Refuelling stop at Oban for our final leg.

Adam Forsyth adds our sample of sustainable avgas.

then north covering the Angus, Perthshire, and Cairngorm range summits. After a few summits were overflown, I quickly learned that it made sense to anticipate the direction of turn required for the next peak and then turn in the opposite direction shortly before the summit so that the turn on track to the next one took us directly overhead. This helped reduce the number of steep turns that were required and made for a much smoother flight for Adam in the back.

Continuing onwards in perfect flying conditions over Schiehallion (3,553ft), which holds a place in geographical history as it was used by the Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne in 1774 for an experiment to estimate the mass of the Earth, as well as work done by his mathematician assistant Charles Hutton, which brought about the system of contour lines on topographical maps, the Ben Lawers range was next. We took in some of the southerly outliers afterwards, including Ben Lomond (3,196ft), towering above the famous Loch. The fantastic views and freedom to cross from peak to peak made us think of the magnificent work that aeroBILITY do in providing access to flight for disabled people and allowing them to experience similar feelings and emotions in the air.

Over the Arrochar Alps, we spied quite a few climbers on the summits before we passed over the Crianlarich Hills, including Ben More (3,822ft), which has unfortunately had three fatal aviation accidents on its slopes over the years. The mountains in Scotland may not be very high, but they still demand respect and awareness at all times.

The Breadalbane Mountains were next, by Rannoch Moor, before Ben Lui (3,707ft) and her sisters. Close to

Ben Mor Assynt.

The rugged wilderness of the north-western Highlands.

‘The Ben’ – the highest point on the British Isles at 4,413ft amsl.

The Grey Corries and Ben Nevis bask in the setting sun.

Looking Eastwards down Glen Coe with the peaks of Argyll on the right.

Not a Munro, but Ben Loyal was worth a photo.

Oban Airport, we came to the ‘hollow mountain’, Ben Cruachan (3,694ft), so called because of the massive hall excavated deep within it which houses a huge hydroelectric generator station. Our plan was to land at Oban but there is arguably a better class of lunch served at the Glenforsa Hotel on the Isle of Mull, so we made the 10 minute transit to our second Ben More (3,169ft), the only Munro on the island. With summit number 99 conquered, we touched down on the Glenforsa grass at 1419L, with food and friends waiting.

Leg 3: Glenforsa-Oban

Lunch consumed, we were airborne at 1518L for the short hop to Oban for fuel, landing at 1528L.

Leg 4: Oban-Inverness-Easter-Glenforsa

Filling our tanks with 96L of fuel, we prepared for the final leg.

On our Fife-Glenforsa leg, actual flight time was 20% higher than calculated by SkyDemon, possibly because all turns over waypoints are expected to be instantaneous. When making 100+ turns then even 10 seconds extra per turn is going to increase flight time by 16 minutes, so it was something to factor in.

I called Inverness to confirm our fuel stop. Haar was reported, as forecast, but reports from other airfields in the vicinity indicated CAVOK to the North, giving us several diversion options at the end of the challenge. This was academic though as there was limited avgas, so it was only available to based aircraft. Inverness with no fuel was not enticing so I called the nearby and always helpful Easter Airfield, which confirmed avgas availability, albeit there was intermittent haar.

We would follow our plan, with the option for a break at Plockton, and continue around to now finish at Easter. Elapsed time to Easter was three hours and 24 minutes, but with our previous flight timing experience, a more realistic time was estimated at four hours and five minutes, giving us 25 minutes reserve.

Omitting Plockton or landing at a closer diversion airfield would restore the reserve to 30 minutes. Time to

Above Munro Bagging from Oban to Inverness didn’t go to plan!

Sunbeam reflects on a Lochan in the Mamores.

The crew arrive at Glenforsa for a fabulous lunch.

Departing Oban at 1604L and running a little late, we’d also need to keep an eye on the daylight too. Night flight was not an option…

Overflying the spectacular Argyll summits, Black Mount, Glencoe, and the airy ridge of Aonach Eagach was breathtaking. The scenery became even more superlative as we crossed the Mamores to the highest mountain in the UK, Ben Nevis (4,413ft). A quick orbit over the summit and a victory roll overhead the deep valley, which splits ‘The Ben’ from its neighbour, Carn Mor Dearg (4,003ft). We hoped it wasn’t premature…

Crossing the Grey Corries, and the wild, remote, and uninhabited lands around Corrour, we ‘bagged’ the remaining Badenoch summits and the Monadhliath plateau. The haar lying over the Moray Firth was visible in the distance, but was CAVOK either side of it. A command decision was made to divert to Easter and pick up some fuel now, giving us more options, before rejoining our route in reverse at Ben Wyvis (3,432ft), and backtracking until we reached the last Munro we left behind, Geal Charn (3,714ft). Heading north, we could clearly see the oil rigs lying in Nigg Bay near Cromarty.

Brushing the top of the 500ft thick haar layer, the wind turbine 1nm off the Easter threshold was visible, however, as we got closer there was no sign of the airfield and descending in a gap below the 200ft ceiling haar would be foolhardy. Climbing again, we set course for Ben Wyvis.

Reducing power to 2,200rpm, leaning for best range,

Characteristic flat plateau summits in the Cairngorms National Park.

Beinn A’ Ghlo and the unimaginatively named Loch Loch.

The Devil’s Point and the Lairig Ghru pass.

The Cairngorms Ski Centre, minus the snow.

Aonach Eagach ridge on the left and the Buichailles of Glen Coe on the right.

Ben Nevis and Carn Mor Dearg tower above Fort William and Loch Linnhe.

day, but we’d come this far. Or we could continue, with regular GO / NO GO decision points based on fuel burn, actual fuel remaining, and time to our best diversion airfield. With 116 litres of fuel remaining, the EFIS (Electronic Flight Information System) calculated an endurance of four hours 48 minutes with no reserves, or slightly less if you include 5% contingency. We continued to our first decision point, Ben Hope (3,041ft), the most northerly munro, and the furthest point from wherever we would finally land. Replanning Glenforsa as final destination gave an estimate of two hours 14 minutes to the final summit, and two hours 40 minutes back to Glenforsa. However, that was based on a speed of 150kt instead of 120kt and also did not factor in the multiple turns percentage increase required. I used a factor of 20% to do a quick mental speed recalculation and a further 20% for turns, giving a new Glenforsa estimate of three hours 44 minutes. It would be tight, but possible.

Reaching Ben Hope, all potential destination airfields were within range if required. Remaining daylight and elapsed times also looked good. Our next GO / NO GO point would be at the Fannichs, but first we overflew some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen as we tracked to the rugged Ben More Assynt (3,274ft), highest point in Sutherland, and Conival (3,238ft), with hundreds of lochans and weird shaped mountains in the area. You can see why low flying military pilots call this place ‘moon country’.

At the Fannichs, all was well, and next was the magnificent An Teallach range (3,486ft), arguably the most impressive mountain scenery in the UK, before passing Slioch (3,219ft) towering above Loch Maree.

The Torridon Mountains were equally jaw dropping, formed from some of the oldest rock on the planet. Beinn Eighe (3,310ft) lays claim to being the starting point for the formation of RAF mountain rescue teams. In 1954 a maritime patrol Lancaster failed to return from a mission and was located two days later in a gully on the mountain.

Due to winter weather conditions and the treacherous location, it was over six months before the crew could be recovered. Once more we thought about one of our chosen charities and the differences that SARAA can make today. Eastwards to Glen Cannich, then the Strathfarrar Four, this our nearest point to divert to one of the airfields on the Black Isle. As all calculations were still good, we continued towards Glen Affric, the Five Sisters of Kintail, and the Forcan Ridge. Meanwhile, Scottish Information was liaising on our behalf with Glenforsa Hotel to try and find us accommodation.

Traversing the peaks of the Mamores. The Black Cuillin peaks on the Isle of Skye.

Crossing the haar cloud over the Moray Firth while attempting an approach at Easter Airfield.

Although the Cromarty Firth is in brilliant sunshine, Easter is a few miles further on and lying beneath the shallow haar cloud.

Sea fog and low cloud forming over the north-west coastal areas of Scotland.

We had seen a ‘No Vacancy’ sign on our lunchtime visit. Soon Brendan Walsh at Glenforsa confirmed we would have rooms and dinner on arrival. Bravo!

Our ETA for Glenforsa was now 2107L, exactly sunset. Over the sea to Skye, which also has the most difficult Munro to ‘bag’, the Inaccessible Pinnacle (3,234ft). This 150ft high fin of rock with sheer drops on either side is not for the faint hearted. Assuming you make it to the top, there is then a 60ft abseil to get off the peak.

Traversing the peaks of Moidart, Loch Quoich, and Loch Arkaig, fuel checks remained good. Passing Creag Meagaidh (3,701ft), we soon reached our final summit, setting a direct course to Glenforsa on a 66nm final approach. The sun was descending quickly in the West, adding a wonderful red glow to everything around us. Touchdown was exactly as the sun dropped below the horizon, with 25L of fuel remaining. Phew…

The hotel was busy with a buzz about it, and we were buzzing in our own way, of course. We had just spent over eight hours in an RV-8, not really designed for the ‘first class, long-haul’ cabin experience, but definitely had views better than any inflight movie. We had flown over all 282 Munro summits in a single day in weather which we could not have possibly dreamed about.

Our charity donations were rolling in and there was genuine interest in what we had done and why we were doing it. Finally, we had overcome the challenges that had been thrown at us, by adapting our plans, operating the aircraft in a manner which made it as efficient as possible, and by not giving up.

Pooleys Dawn to Dusk competition, it should be on every pilot’s bucket list! ■

Share your adventures!

If you’ve made a really memorable flight either solo or with friends, or visited a great destination be it in the UK or abroad, then there’s a good chance that LAA members would enjoy reading about it. So why not share your travel tales by contributing to the Light Aviation Flying Adventure feature slot?

A typical Adventure can range from 1,500 to 3,000 words. Include a selection of high-resolution photos of highlights, ideally 1mb or greater. Phone photos can be great for this, but pictures from a camera usually give the best results.

Got an idea in mind? Drop me a line!

Email: ed.hicks@laa.uk.com

Our awesome Van’s RV-8, ‘Wee Vans’…

A victory roll as we pass Ben Nevis.

The Western Highlands and Skye.

Chasing the sun as we head for Glenforsa and a bed for the night.

Coaching Corner…

Weather watching…

In the first of a two-part article, PCS Head of Training David Cockburn suggests the ability to read the weather as it develops around you as you fly, is an important skill for pilots…

While aviation forecasts are available and we need to study and understand them, they are not, and cannot be, particularly accurate. To fly safely, pilots need to be able to detect such inaccuracies, especially if the weather is becoming worse than a forecast predicts.

Groundschool during training should have given a lot of information about aviation weather, but accident reports suggest that the average pilot needs some more guidance to help them recognise the approach of deteriorating weather, hopefully before they actually fly into it.

There are some characteristics which pilots should expect from certain situations, and we shall look at these first. A synoptic forecast chart, or a TV forecaster’s comments, can prepare you for them.

General assessment – air mass

The air mass, which is forecast to affect your route, will bring certain types of general weather. With its relatively high humidity at low altitudes, a tropical maritime air mass over the UK will generally be stable, with poor visibility. If associated with the warm sector of a depression, we can expect to encounter low stratus cloud and possibly drizzle, although visibility above the turbulence cloud layer may be good. If associated with an anticyclone in summer, the conditions are likely to be either clear skies or a sheet of stratocumulus cloud. Advection fog, of course, is also possible. Returning polar maritime air will give similar conditions, but probably not so pronounced.

Tropical continental air comes seldom to the UK. However, when it does, conditions are likely to be stable. There will often be a deep and thick haze layer, with little cloud. If a cold front moves it out of the way, be prepared for dust and even sand to fall in the raindrops.

Polar continental air is often the cause of ‘cold snaps’ of clear skies and overnight frosts. Visibility is generally good, except in the showers (often sleet or snow in winter), from the moisture it has collected on its travel across the sea. Being unstable, any cloud will be cumuloform, but often restricted (with the showers) to eastern and north-facing coastal areas.

The commonly seen polar maritime air is again unstable, with good visibility outside precipitation, but the moisture it has collected on its passage across the Atlantic tends to produce much more cloud. In summer, the cloudbase may be high and the cloud ‘fair weather cumulus’, but especially in winter frequent, possibly heavy showers from deeper cumulus are likely.

Thunderstorms are also possible if a suitable trigger exists. In winter, cumulus may be found over the sea and coastal areas even when the land is too cold to produce convection.

If arctic maritime air is forecast, the wind will be northerly and very cold. The unstable air will include Cu Nim, which form over the sea and drift a short distance over land, almost certainly depositing snow over coastal areas which will settle. Although the visibility outside showers will be excellent, any snow encountered will reduce that dramatically.

Pressure patterns

Anticyclones produce settled weather. However, that means that the air becomes progressively more stable, and surface visibility will become steadily worse (and the

Below When it’s time to fly, how do the actuals compare to the forecast?

inversion at the top of the haze layer lower) unless the air mass changes. The sky will often be clear, but especially in winter stratocumulus cloud may form daily, dispersing at night. In summer, with no cloud (or thin cumulus) temperatures may increase daily and slow down the visibility reduction, but in winter the clear skies may lead to radiation fog which takes daily longer to clear. Ridges tend to be shorter-lived than anticyclones, so although the weather will again be settled for a time, the disadvantages are less likely to take effect.

Depressions move quickly, and their effects are mainly those of their frontal systems already described. However, even without a frontal system marked on a chart, the centre of the depression is generally marked with thick convective cloud with few gaps between them, and often showers with a low cloudbase.

Troughs are often fronts which a forecaster has difficulty categorising. Bands of showers or periods of continuous precipitation are common, and especially over or near high ground may produce considerable cloud at low altitudes.

Convergence zones occur when local winds push air from different directions together, such as the meeting of sea breezes. This convergence can trigger deep cloud, often cumulonimbus, with the associated hazards, and these may form into line squalls.

Some pressure charts may include dashed ‘thickness lines’. These show the vertical distance (in decametres: 1 dam=10 metres) between the isobars of 1000 HPa and 500 HPa, and indicate the temperature of the airmass between those levels. A low thickness indicates a cold airmass. Pilots will have little need to use the information, but it may be of interest that a thickness of 528 dam or less is considered a good indication that snow will fall.

Constructive report reading

Even though you may have made a general assessment of the likely conditions before flight, you will never have all the information that a forecaster has, and you must never try to do without his / her expertise. Check not only the area forecast for your route, but also the TAFs and Metars for all aerodromes you expect to pass, and any which might be useful as diversion aerodromes. Be sure you know what the forecasters expect to happen but if the Metar does not agree with what the TAF suggests should be happening at that time you have an early indication that the TAF may not be accurate.

However, TAFs will only tell you what the forecaster (or to be precise their computer) thinks is most likely to happen. They will seldom be able to tell you what they think might happen if events turn out slightly different. You can prepare yourself by actively looking for suggestions that the forecaster thinks that may be the case. Look carefully at the forecasts for any ‘PROBs’, since they give such an indication. ‘TEMPO’, ‘OCNL’, and even ‘ISOL’ will

Above

Top right Remember how to interpret pressure charts?

Right Form 215 is full of useful information.

almost certainly affect your flight, as will any gusts in the forecast wind. We should always be ready to divert to another aerodrome if we cannot land at our intended destination, but take note of the possible weather problems, and know where you can divert to if these problems actually occur. Carry enough fuel to get there and try a circuit or two before having to land.

And the forecast is unlikely to change even if the forecaster realises it is incorrect – it is allowed a very wide margin of error before it has to be changed. For safety, always expect the forecast to be about 30% worse than it is written. If the wind is forecast to be near your crosswind limit (including any forecast gusts), be ready to fly to a diversion with a runway much closer to the wind. If cloudbase is a little low, either avoid high ground altogether, or plan alternative route legs over low ground which you can change to if necessary (and carry enough fuel to fly them).

If visibility is not very good, plan your route so that the best navigation features are always down sun from you (or up moon at night). That suggests you should plan to approach your destination from the direction of the sun. If you can, select a flying altitude above the haze layer. If you expect to arrive at your destination when the sun is low in the sky, check the forecast wind and available runways to try to avoid landing into the sun.

If your route takes you downwind, you will be flying into weather which was recently over your departure point. You know what the forecast said; take note of exactly what the recent actual weather was at your departure point and compare the two. Ask pilots who were flying earlier what the conditions were. If the actual weather was worse than forecast, so will the weather be along your route. ■

• David will conclude this article next month.

TAFs will only tell you what the forecaster thinks will happen…

The latest LAA Engineering topics and investigations. Compiled by

Jerry Parr

Engineering Matters

Including: Be on the lookout for engines on sale without documentation or logbooks, ignition switch wear, Auster brake plate cracked, and Van’s stick boot service letter

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. We all learn by sharing information, so if you have anything to

say that you think would benefit others, or have experienced an interesting technical issue or component failure, then please contact us with a description of what you encountered and include accompanying pictures. Send your submissions to LAA Engineering at engineering@laa.uk.com

Engines: Buyers beware…

LAA member and aircraft owner, Jan Henslow, highlighted an online advertisement to LAA Engineering which he had seen for two Rotax 912-S3 engines that were for sale.

The advert said that there were no log books and that in the seller’s opinion, they were ‘ideal for LAA (aircraft)’ and had been removed from ‘an CofA Aircraft’.

There is every chance that the sale of the engines was 100% legitimate, but it might be considered somewhat unusual

that engines removed from an aircraft holding a Certificate of Airworthiness, have no log books. If both engines had actually been removed from a certified twinengined, Rotax-powered aircraft, then that narrows them down to being removed from a Tecnam P2006T.

Another LAA member called LAA Engineering to ask if a Lycoming with no history could be used in an LAA aircraft.

Again, it is somewhat unusual to have an aircraft engine with zero history, log

books or documentation and not even any knowledge of the airframe that they were removed from.

There are no hard and fast rules as to whether ‘unknown’ engines, devoid of log books or history (or both) will be accepted for use in an LAA-administered aircraft.

Certainly, such an engine would need to be disassembled and inspected by an appropriate person to ascertain its condition and, as far as is possible, its provenance, but in these cases it is wise to consult with LAA Engineering before parting with any hard-earned cash.

Right and above Rotax and Lycoming engines – buyer beware of engines without known history, log books or documentation. If the deal seems too good to be true – it might just be.

Wear in ignition switches

CHIRP, the independent and confidential aviation reporting system, commented on the subject of worn ignition keys and ignition switches in their August 2022 issue of Aviation Feedback

The problem is well known to aircraft maintainers, but may not be as well known to aircraft owners and operators, and it is not necessarily just an issue of an old and well-used key in an old and well-used ignition switch.

Particularly in the case of syndicateowned aircraft, ignition keys get copies made and then copies are made of copies… and so on over the years. These (and old, original) keys may operate the ignition switch as advertised but it is not

uncommon to find that the key can be pulled from the ignition switch in more than just the ‘OFF’ position.

Apart from periodically checking (with the engine off) that the ignition keys cannot be removed with the ignition off there is another important check that can be carried out on magneto equipped engines with the aid of a magneto synchroniser ‘buzz box’.

At the annual inspection, or whenever checking the magneto timing, try moving the key around in the switch. In the ‘OFF’ position, there should be no hint from the buzz box of the ignition system being anything but ‘OFF’ and similarly, with the switch in ‘LEFT’, ‘RIGHT’ or ‘BOTH’, ensure the ignition remains live at all times. If the

buzz box lights indicate that the magnetos may be live when ‘OFF’ or earthed out (i.e. off) when they should be live, further investigation is required.

Some ignition installations require one or the other magneto to be earthed out when the starter is engaged. This is accomplished with a jumper plate fitted across two terminals on the back of the ignition switch.

The normal reasons for this is that either one of the magnetos does not have an impulse coupling to retard the ignition during engine start, or that the ignition system consists of one electronic ignition unit and one magneto and the magneto is switched off during engine start.

Service bulletins and airworthiness directives: Date of compliance

From time to time, LAA Engineering receive enquiries regarding the compliance interval for Service Bulletins (SB), Airworthiness Directives (AD) and CAA Mandatory Permit Directives (MPD).

The first point to make is that compliance with an SB is not ‘legally’ mandatory, regardless of the statement made on the document itself. An SB will be mandatory if made so by the issuance of an AD or MPD.

For an AD/MPD, which has a calendar-based repetitive compliance period, the next required compliance date will be the date the AD/MPD compliance was signed up in the logbook, plus the stated compliance period (there may be allowance to add).

As an example: If an AD required a 12 month repetitive inspection and was signed in the logbook as being carried out on 12 July 2022,

it should be carried out (and compliance signed for) by 11 July 2023. There is often a slight anomaly between most aircraft with a Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA) against a Permit to Fly aircraft.

The CofA aircraft will normally have the Certificate of Release to Service in the logbooks signed by the LAE / maintenance organisation on the day the Airworthiness Review Certificate is issued and the aircraft released to service. Therefore, the AD compliance date and the CRS date are on and the same.

With a Permit to Fly aircraft, the Permit to Fly revalidation process will normally require input from a third party (LAA, CAA, BMAA etc), and therefore there will nearly always be a time delay between the signing of the Permit Maintenance Release in the logbooks and the Permit to Fly Certificate of Validity being issued.

Beware worn keys and worn ignition switches.

Standard modification and LAA acceptance

It recently came to light that a news item featured some time ago in Light Aviation and subsequent advertisements on the internet, promoted a piece of aircraft equipment as being accepted for installation by LAA Engineering in accordance with an already issued LAA Standard Modification.

The item in question had been produced by the new company after the original producer (cited in the Standard Modification) had ceased production. The issue was that no acceptance had been issued by LAA Engineering for the new manufacturer to produce the parts or to claim that they were made in accordance with the Standard Modification.

If there is any doubt as to a piece of equipment being accepted on LAAadministered aircraft under the Standard Modification scheme, please contact LAA Engineering to check.

Auster: Brake back plate cracked

Auster 5 owner, Robin Helliar-Symons emailed to say that his aircraft had suffered a failure of the right hand brake

back plate while taxying. Ron Neal (International Auster Club’s Technical Adviser, life-long licensed engineer and

maintainer) believes this may be due to a defective batch of back plates, as the problem only started in the 1970s and he is only aware of right hand plates failing.

The problem was originally brought to owner’s attention via an RF Saywell Service Bulletin (RFS/AUS/3) and mandated by CAA Airworthiness Directive CAA AD 015-11-80. The SB calls for an inspection every 100 hours or at the annual inspection, whichever occurs first.

Robin kindly submitted photographs showing the failure before and after dismantling.

The origin of the crack on the inside of the back plate, next to the pivot point, where the main loads are carried.

Above Not every change constitutes a modification requiring LAA Engineering input but it is best to check with LAA Engineering if there is any doubt.

Right The failed back plate failure before dismantling.

Below The pieces laid out after dismantling.

Ballistic parachute recovery system installations

Right Check Section S SubSection K for the BPRS placard requirements.

In previous Engineering Matters, it has been mentioned that CAA G-INFO now records information about Ballistic Recovery Parachute Systems (BPRS) when fitted to a particular aircraft. This can be used by the emergency services to ascertain if an aircraft that has been involved in an incident, has, or may have, a BPRS system fitted.

Another point worth highlighting as a reminder to builders, owners, operators and Inspectors of BPRS-equipped aircraft, is that in 2019, the CAA issued Mandatory Permit Directive MPD 2019-005 mandating BPRS warning placards to be fitted in accordance

with the requirements of BCAR Section S, Sub-Section K.

As this is a Mandatory Permit Directive, the aircraft should not be flown or the Permit to Fly be revalidated if the placarding does not comply with the Section S requirements. Placard sets are available from the LAA via the online shop.

If an aircraft has a BPRS system installed, at the time of the Permit to Fly revalidation inspection, Inspectors should also check that G-INFO records the correct information for the aircraft and that the installation has been fitted as an LAA-accepted modification.

Van’s Aircraft stick boot service bulletin

Ideally, a cockpit will be a completely sealed environment where, if something is loose, it cannot find its way to the aircraft’s control systems, possibly causing a restriction.

One of the areas of concern is around control columns where they may pass through a seat cushion, or through the cockpit floor or a bulkhead.

To this end, Van’s Aircraft have highlighted the issue and published Service Letter 00060 recommending the installation of ‘stick boot covers’ to all RV models. While this Service Letter is produced with the Van’s aircraft types in mind, the information contained within may well be useful to owners of other aircraft types.

LAA Engineering charges

LAA Project Registration

Kit Built Aircraft

Plans Built Aircraft

Initial Permit issue

Up to 450kg

451-999kg

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)

Above Flightline Interiors produce the RV-12 interior trim kit for Van’s Aircraft and after the UK builder of this aircraft requested some stick boots from them, they now offer them as part of the trim kit.

Recent Alerts & AILs

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

LAA TSB: TSB-001-2022

and above

Four-seat aircraft

Manufacturer’s/agent’s type acceptance fee

Project registration royalty

Category change

Group A to microlight

Microlight to Group A

Change of G-Registration fee

Issue of Permit documents following G-Reg change

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.

Applicability: All Europa aircraft

Europa: Door latch system stop

CAA MPD: 2022-003

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.

Rolling your own…

In part four of his occasional series, Mike Roberts takes a look at airfoil selection and performance estimates…

While the very early airfoils were terribly inefficient, the development through WWI in aerodynamics was considerable. The German aircraft researchers excelled at it, to the point that the airfoils seen on the later German wartime aircraft would make perfectly acceptable airfoils today on slow flying aircraft. On such a simple design as we are considering in this series of articles, we only need to review the three key parameters, these being:

Lift Coefficient (CL) – A unitless parameter that gives an indication as to the airfoil’s ability to generate lift at different Angles of Attack. As the Angle of Attack (AoA) increases, so too does the CL, the slope between AoA and CL is generally roughly linear until it nears the stall, where it flattens off and then drops dramatically, this is the AoA at which the stall occurs. The highest value of CL is just before the stall and is often referred to as CL MAX.

Most airfoils will generally have a maximum lift coefficient somewhere between 0.8-1.6, though this assumes an infinitely long wing, i.e., that it discounts any losses from wing tip vortices. High lift devices are generally put in place to increase this value of CL MAX. Some, such as the more complex fowler and Zap flap also increase the wing area. Note that a conventional cambered airfoil produces some lift even at zero angle of attack, you have to tip it to a slightly negative angle of attack to get zero lift.

The more cambered (curved) the airfoil, the more lift it generates even at zero angle of attack.

Drag Coefficient(CD) – Similar to lift coefficient, this dimensionless parameter tells us how draggy an airfoil is. Generally, the thicker the airfoil, the higher its drag coefficient, for fairly obvious reasons. As the angle of attack is increased and the CL goes up, the Cd will also increase. This is partly the reason for needing more power during a high angle of bank turn.

More lift = more drag.

Pitching Moment Coefficient (CM) – This dimensionless parameter is a measure of how much the airfoil wants to twist nose-down in flight, and is a function of the shape of the airfoil’s camber – the flatter the airfoil, the less the pitching moment. When the pitching moment of an airfoil is measured about the airfoil’s aerodynamic centre, which is normally the quarter-chord point, unlike the lift and drag, the pitching moment depends only on the aircraft’s speed; it doesn’t vary with angle of attack. The pitching moment coefficient has a lot to do with an aircraft’s stability, especially so on flying wings, which have no conventional tail to balance it out. The pitching moment coefficient is also important in determining the torsional load imparted on our wing when making the structural calculations.

We generally begin airfoil selection by deciding what sort of stall speed we are after – as low as possible

Above A reminder what our simple aeroplane design looks like…

surely? Well, not always… As the aircraft I am designing will have only a 250kg max gross weight, if it were to have a stall speed below 35kt then it would become an SSDR. I really like SSDRs, but I want my design to be an SEP, LAA machine, mainly because I like the requirement that LAA will check my design submission and an LAA Inspector will have a good nosey round the aeroplane – both significant safety contributions. Also I want to be able to use it to build my PPL flying hours. So, I want it to stall above 35kt but not much more. For simplicity of design, this aircraft won’t have flaps and to be honest, a simple plain flap won’t reduce our stall speed all that much anyway and would likely serve better as a glide path device more than a high lift one.

So what sort of CL would we need? Well, if we rearrange the formula for stall speed and plug in our numbers from the detailed specification, including the wing area, we can work out the required CLmax value. Alternatively, we could choose a CLmax from airfoil data and then figure out the minimum wing area we need to get the stall speed we want. It just depends how the designer approaches the task.

Stall speed =

· Where V is the stall speed (metre/sec)

· L is the lift force (Newtons)

· Cl is the coefficient of lift (unitless)

· p is the air density (Kg/cubic metre)

· S is the wing area (sq metres)

Aeronautical design textbooks typically provide tables of CL, CD and CM for a range of different airfoil shapes – you can also find these online. There are several things to consider when selecting an airfoil, performance is a given, we need our wing to work efficiently for us. An important measure of the performance of an airfoil is its Lift/Drag ratio, the higher, the better.

The Lift/drag ratio is obtained by dividing the airfoil’s CL value at a given angle of attack by its CD value at the same angle of attack. Having said that, an airfoil with a high L/D but a very high pitching moment coefficient may not work out as well as one with a lower L/D and a more modest pitching moment. This is because with an aircraft of conventional layout, the pitching moment generally needs

Below The GOE 704 airfoil was selected as it has a touch of reflex which will serve to help reduce induced drag.

to be counteracted by a downforce on the tailplane, which in effect not only cancels out a proportion of the wing lift but also in doing so, creates more drag.

This is partly the reason why gliders have long fuselages and small tailplanes… a shorter fuselage would need a larger tailplane, causing more trim drag and more cancelled-out lift.

Then again, there’s no point choosing an airfoil with a high L/D at a high angle of attack if your aeroplane is designed to cruise at a low angle of attack because it only has a very light wing loading. You need an airfoil with a high L/D at the projected cruise lift coefficient, and also, particularly if it’s marginally powered, at the climb lift coefficient. It’s all a balance and you don’t get anything for free.

Generally, the thicker the airfoil, the higher the CD, but counter-intuitively, a thick wing can generally be built a lot lighter than a thin one. As the spar caps in a thick wing are further apart than in a thin wing, less spar cap material is needed to achieve a given strength and stiffness – I will calculate an example in a later article to show how this works.

Other important factors to consider are the suddenness of the airfoil’s stall, and its sensitivity to surface imperfections – there’s no point choosing a supercritical laminar flow airfoil for a wing that’s to be fabric covered, for example, because the fabric surface between the ribs doesn’t follow the rib profiles accurately and the section is only very approximately reproduced. For a fabric covered wing, one of the long-established NACA 4 or 5 digit sections such as the 23012, 4412 or 4415 are often the airfoils of choice.

When the wing is tapered in planform rather than parallel chord, the choice of potentially different airfoil sections at the root and tip, in combination possibly with the use of washout, makes the whole business much more complicated. The challenge here being to create an aerodynamic configuration that will achieve as close as possible to an elliptical spanwise lift distribution for minimum induced drag, while also one which will stall first at the root rather than the tip.

For those who are interested, the airfoil selected for this design with its parallel chord wing is a Gottingen 704 airfoil.

Performance estimates

Determining the performance of an aircraft is a key stage in a design’s development. The level of analysis can get overwhelming if high performance is key to the success of the design, such as a high-performance sailplane. In our case, we are going to use some pretty standard calculations as our aim is for the aircraft to be low cost and a ‘decent’ performer rather than anything special in that department. That said, while the calculations are quite simple and only require us to plug in numbers into a formula from our detailed specification, the results can be quite accurate so long as you aren’t over-optimistic in assigning your drag coefficients.

Once again, we will employ the use of spreadsheets to aid this process. The LAA has a published Aircraft Performance Estimate Calculator. I find this area of a design the most intriguing and the spreadsheet is very

design a delta wing, canard, tandem wing or whatever you come up with, the reliability of this information would become more questionable.

Optimising performance

As mentioned, this design is aimed at being inexpensive to produce with performance being a secondary consideration. That said, we’ll try and avoid adding draggy features. So, to give it the best chance, there are a couple things I looked at that will have undoubtedly reduced the parasitic drag and at no cost to the complexity or price of the build.

useful for having a play around with, altering things like aspect ratio and MTOW and seeing how the estimated performance goes up (or down!).

Having plugged in the various parameters of this preliminary design into the performance estimate calculator, we attain some pretty promising figures. The spreadsheet contains a great deal more information such as the variation of L/D with airspeed, performance estimates, minimum power requirements etc. Have a look on the LAA website. Do note though that this assumes a conventional configuration… should you

Below Avoiding tapering the fuselage in planform in the area where a dihedralled wing attaches cuts down on interference drag at the intersection.

Reducing double curvatures – Many aircraft have a lovely compound curve fairing at the root where the wing and fuselage meet. While looking very pretty, they also fill a void that would otherwise be filled with very turbulent (draggy) air. As a particle of air flows over the top surface of the wing, accelerating as it goes, it is trying desperately to cling to the surface of the wing but at the same time, it is trying to cling to the fuselage side (think of a divergent nozzle). If the wing-to-fuselage junction is not designed well, the air will separate and cause unnecessary drag, hence why this area is often being filled with a fairing. So, to not ask too much from said air particle, I have kept my fuselage sides parallel from the leading to trailing edge of the wing. This certainly wouldn’t create more drag and actually makes the fuselage simpler to build as the centre section is completely flat! I adopted this having seen a video on the internet of the late Mike Arnold discussing how he achieved a very low drag coefficient on his AR-5 (A design that achieved 213.18 mph on a stock Rotax 582).

Undercarriage – Aiming to adopt a Sonerai type cantilever aluminium gear, the design of which is quite draggy, adding a little nose piece and a trailing edge piece should reduce the CD somewhat.

Little touch-ups in the design here and there can go a long way in reducing the drag on an aircraft. For a demonstration, using the formula for drag, let’s compare the drag on a tubular undercarriage leg and a streamlined one. Both will share the same frontal area, the only difference being the drag coefficient will change.

The formula for approximate drag is: Drag = Where;

ρ = Air Density

V= Fluid velocity

S = Frontal area

= Drag Coefficient

Every pilot / aviation fanatic knows that if you double the speed of an aircraft the drag (and potentially, the lift) goes up by a factor of 4, that’s the part coming into play…

So, let’s determine the drag difference between an undercarriage leg consisting of just a round tube or rod, compared with the same leg with a streamlined section. As we won’t be changing the dimensions, the frontal area is the same. Solidworks tells me that the frontal area highlighted in blue (undercarriage profile, opposite page) is equal to 0.042. For our airspeed, we are going to

Above

assume we will be cruising at 75mph. As I work in metric units, and the rest of the formula will be working so, this 75mph will need to be converted to m/s. All that remains, is finding the Drag Coefficients for our chosen cross sections, the internet is your friend as are aerodynamic books.

A search online has told me that:

‘The drag coefficient for cross section A is 0.47

And ‘The drag coefficient for cross section B is 0.045

Remember that coefficients are unitless.

Now if we plug our values into the formula, we can determine our drag.

Drag for A, Drag = = 13.6 Newtons or about 1.39 Kgf of drag (3 lbs)

Drag for B, Drag = = 1.36 Newtons or about 0.138 kgf of drag ( 0.3 Lbs)

Not surprising then that the streamlined section provides a greatly reduced amount of drag, a pretty much x10 fold reduction in drag for that matter!. Do note that this formula does not consider surface finish. If we had two versions of the B section, one with a highly polished surface finish and the other with a 320 grit finish, we know which would be better. This can be taken into account quite easily and maybe something I’ll explain later on, should people be interested. From here, you could investigate different foils, different speeds etc. Remember this is at 75mph, a Van’s RV or a Long EZ that is not far off twice this speed would really suffer with a tubular cross section gear, which is likely the reason why they don’t! The best part of aircraft aesthetics is that most of it is for a good reason. ■

This blue highlighted shape is the frontal area of the undercarriage to be considered for drag purposes.

Capable of 213mph powered by a stock Rotax 582, Mike Arnold’s AR-5 aircraft achieved a very low drag coefficient.

Drag reduction profile.

Struts 4U

Anne Hughes rounds up Strut news & views

Above Scouts and Brownies on their visit to Audley End airfield with YES.

Left The Oxford Strut Enstone Pie-in fly-in

Below left and right Two scenes from the Cornwall Strut end of season fly-in at Bodmin.

As we creep towards the end of the year, we can report on fine weather for September / October’s flying over much of the UK and Strut events that took place in the sunshine. Two Struts had organised a ‘Pie Fly-In’ as a way to warm up the members after a flight. At Enstone 40 aircraft arrived at the invitation of the Oxford Group Strut for its Pie-In, and enjoyed an excellent social event, with the added opportunity for some to try out the Spitfire simulator. The Oxford Group are planning to add more fly-ins to its calendar next year.

Food played a major part in Devon Strut’s Fly-In on 24 September, courtesy of Branscombe Airfield and Campsite, where it ran the Strut Branscombe Autumn Fly-In and BBQ. There were 21 arrivals despite an uncooperative wind. For those who did arrive, Tony’s Kitchen was in full swing, supplying breakfasts of bacon and egg baps and burgers for lunch.

The Cornwall Strut held its end of season fly-in at Bodmin on 10 September and held a two minute silence for HM Queen Elizabeth II.

The day included some pleasure flights and one notable passenger was Dot, who usually spends her time in the kitchen feeding all arrivals with a menu, which includes Cornish pasties and bacon butties. Tribute was paid to the many Strut members who supported the fly-in – as marshals, booking in visitors, and preparing and serving meals.

Pete White also shared news with us about the many school groups which get the opportunity to enjoy time on the airfield and said that more helpers are required to support these events at Bodmin. It is always a rewarding experience to see the excitement on young faces as young people are introduced to the world of aviation for the very first time!

Stewart Luck, YES Strut, also ended the season with a group of local Brownies, who spent a day at Audley End Airfield learning about navigation skills from Jim Johnson, and finding out how aeroplanes fly. Paper aeroplanes were involved and the Guild of Aviation Artists was keen to demonstrate its skills to the children, as it was holding a painting day at the airfield.

This visit was followed by a visit to Audley End of 28 scouts from Thaxted, plus leaders and adult helpers. Some enjoyed flights and

David Young

Ian Atherton

all learned about navigation, radio procedures, flying a circuit and how to pre-flight an aircraft.

In 2018 we were really pleased to include an article in this column about the re-start of the West Midlands Strut, which holds its meetings at Halfpenny Green in the Control Tower’s Navigator café. Originally the Strut was formed in 1976 but disbanded in 2015. A tremendous amount of work has been put into organising and running the Strut, which has a membership of about 30. Stuart Darby and Graham Wiley were instrumental in re-starting and running the Strut for the group from 2018 and many interesting speakers ascended the stairs to give their presentations in this excellent location.

Sadly, Stuart and Graham are unable to continue running the Strut for various personal reasons but would be sorry to see things come to an end. Although meetings and gatherings are temporarily suspended, if you think you could help with getting the Strut up and running again please get in touch with the Strut Coordinator, David Millin at david.millin@sea-sea.com Thanks go to Graham, Stuart and all who have supported the WMS over the last four years.

You will see by looking at the calendar, and contacting your local Strut, this winter groups are returning to the monthly presentations and social gatherings that have been missed so much while Covid restrictions were in place. Some Struts may hold a few Zoom presentations, but most are back to local venues, and look forward to meeting up again. If you haven’t already done so, check to see where the nearest Strut is to you and you will be made welcome by other LAA members who will be keen to hear all about your involvement in aviation. ■

Strut Calendar

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

Andover Strut: Spitfire Club, Popham Airfield, SO21 3BD. 14 November – Dave Ratcliffe and the Duxford Lysander (TBC), 12 December – Christmas Quiz and Festive Refreshments. Contact Bob Howarth email: bobhowarth99@btinternet.com Phone no. 01980 611124

Bristol Strut: BAWA Club, Filton, 1930. 19 November – Strut v Bristol Aero Club skittles night; 6 December – Strut Christmas Gathering. Contact: chairman@bristolstrut.uk www. bristolstrut.uk

Cornwall Strut: The Clubhouse, Bodmin Airfield. 9 November – Flying Adventures – Touring is Fun by Martin Ferid; 7 December – Helicopter Operations & Rotor Wash by Arfur Bryant.

Contact: PeteWhite pete@aeronca.co.uk 01752 406660

Devon Strut: The Exeter Court Hotel, Kennford, Exeter. Booking essential –tickets online. 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 We also have a Facebook group and upload recordings of some meetings where we have speakers.

Gloster Strut: The Victory Club, Lypiatt Road, Cheltenham, GL50 2SY at 1930. Parking available. Contact: Harry Hopkins phone 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. 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 on the third Sunday of each month. 1130-1330 at Fishburn Aviator Cafe. Contact: alannixon297@btinternet. com

North Western Strut: Veterans Lounge, Barton, Manchester, 1930 for 2000.

13 December – Strut Christmas Dinner. 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. All welcome. 9 November – Working with the Coalition Forces in Afghanistan by Dave Best; 14 December –

Christmas Meal. Contact LAAOxford@ gmail.com www.oxfordlaa.co.uk

Redhill Strut: The Castle, Millers Lane, Outwood, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 5QB. Pub contact – 01342 844491. Third Tuesday of each month, meet at 1900-1930. Contact: david@milstead. me.uk

Shobdon Strut: Hotspur Café, Shobdon Airfield, Hereford HR6 9NR. 1930. (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. 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. 1930. 16 November – London-Sydney Air Race by Paul Smiddy. 14 December – Chairman’s Quiz and Christmas Nibbles & Drinks. Contact: Martyn Steggalls events@suffolkcoastalstrut. org.uk / 07790 925142

The Joystick Club: Contact: Mike Clews, m.clews@sky.com. 07775 847914. www.joystickclub.co.uk

Vale of York Strut: Chocks Away Café, Rufforth East Airfield.1900. Contact: Chris Holliday 07860 787801 valeofyorkstrutlaa@gmail.com www. valeofyorkstrutlaa.wordpress.com

Wessex Strut: Henstridge Airfield Clubhouse. 1930. Check Wessex Strut website. 11 November – GASCo Safety Night Talk. Local fortnightly Strut walks organised by Wessex Aviators Leisure Klub. Contact: neil.wilson@laa.uk.com

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. (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

Top 1st Thaxted - Carver Scout group on their visit to Audley End with YES.

Above A beautiful painting by GAVA member David Smith of Pete Wood of Vintage Fabrics, explaining the engine of a Cub to visting Brownies.

A wheely high flyer!

What started your interest in aviation?

My interest in aviation as a child and young adult was really only a passing one. I certainly had no great desire to learn to fly, and did my gap year before university with the Royal Engineers.

However, I do remember being completely blown away by the Vulcans at the occasional airshow I was taken to by my father in the early 1970s. I flew in a 747 to Zimbabwe as a 10 year old, my first actual flight, and in a Wessex helicopter over Hong Kong when in the Army in 1983. I’d never even been close to GA before, but then I got two ‘free flights’ in an Air Ambulance in 2003, after a mountain bike accident left me with a spinal cord injury and a six month residency in the National Spinal Injuries Centre, where I learned how to function with no movement or feeling below my chest.

Tell us about your personal learning to fly journey?

My journey to becoming a pilot started with an opportunity presented by a charity called sportability (www. sportability.org.uk), which offer experience days for people with physical disabilities. I signed up for a trial flight in the back of a Quantum flexwing at Enstone in 2010. I wouldn’t even say I was immediately hooked, but I was interested in exploring it further as I could see it might be something I could get into.

Andy, my flexwing instructor, was very ‘can do’ and we arranged to do some actual lessons with me in the front of the completely unadapted trike with Andy instructing from the back, managing with no brakes and the steering damped by my immovable legs. One thing led to another, and I reached the point where I needed an adapted aircraft to go solo.

So I got one, a lovely Quik with the 80hp Rotax engine,

Above FXBA and Russ Pinder.

A cycling accident almost 20 years ago left Russ Pinder with a spinal cord injury, but a specially-adapted Foxbat has enabled him to expand his horizons…

which P&M converted to hand controls for me. Progress to NPPL(M) was, like most people, sporadic, but achieved eventually. I loved flying the Quik, but it was ultimately a little more restricting than I found acceptable.

I could get my chair or a passenger in the back, but never both. More challenging was putting on a flying suit, imagine doing this sitting down with a full epidural anethesia! I wasn’t getting as much flying in as I wanted, maybe managing 20-25 hr most years. I’d moved the Quik to Finmere in 2014 and many of the pilots there were flying LAA and BMAA fixed-wings, and a chat with another highly experienced disabled pilot a couple of years later got me looking at that option.

Discussions with other pilots made me soon realise that three-axis 450kg microlights were never going to be enough to allow me to expand my horizons sufficiently, as I wanted to stay legal on weight. So, looking around I realised the Light Sport 600kg type machines would fit the bill, but for that I’d need the next level of licence. I had to travel to find a flying school suitably equipped with hand control-adapted school aircraft (PA28s), and ended up at Gloucester learning to fly fixed-wing and ‘upgrading’ to a NPPL(SSEA) at the same time. I actually

managed to gain my licence without ever having flown a fixed-wing aircraft solo – and then didn’t do so for another 20 months!

Tell us about the aircraft that you fly?

My current aircraft is an Aeroprakt A22LS Foxbat. I spent some time looking at different light sport type aircraft. I knew I wanted something with a trusty Rotax up front and around 600kg MTOW, which kept it (mostly) within the price bracket I’d set myself. After that, only really two considerations were important – just how easy is it to get in and out of, and how good/easy/well-made were the hand control adaptions. The information isn’t easy to come across (I still have a project on the back burner to assimilate this information onto a web page), but I did look at a fair few, some with physical hand control adaptions that could be tried, and others where the adaptions were only design concepts. I eventually found the Foxbat, and on looking into it, not only is it the lowest and easiest to access aircraft I’ve found, it also has a beautifully engineered set of factory designed and manufactured hand controls that integrate properly into the aircraft controls – rather than bolting on as an afterthought – and they were already approved for fitting into a homebuild project.

I got to sit in a partially completed adapted aircraft –and was sold. I paid for it and bought it without ever flying it. Some people I trusted said they flew beautifully and I knew enough to know that with my limited experience of flying three-axis, I’d never know whether it did or not! The Foxbat has twin yokes and a stick in the middle that looks like a centre joystick, but which is in fact a throttle and rudder control, moving forward and back for throttle control, and side to side for rudder.

It’s so much more intuitive than the up down, or forward backwards of most of the bolt on rudder

Above My actual first solo.

Below Flying in the fexwing with my wheelchair.

adaptions I’ve come across. I fitted the aircraft out with the Rotax 912iS, I’ve always hated the thought of carb icing, and never could get to grips with reliably adding and removing carb heat when necessary, so that solved that problem.

The avionics are hugely overkill, but I love the 10in Dynon HDX AFIS with two-axis autopilot and touchscreen control, and I’ve never for a moment regretted spending the money on them.

The Foxbat isn’t the fastest (especially when your friends all fly RVs and Pioneer 300s), but the autopilot takes a lot of the workload off, so longer legs really aren’t an issue and it allows me to take photos (more of which later) without getting myself into trouble around the complex airspace we have in the south of the UK. I’ve only ever owned the two aircraft, and I don’t anticipate changing the Foxbat any time soon (barring a Lotto win) – it really is ideal for my rather specialised needs.

How long have you been an LAA member?

I joined the LAA in 2017 at the start of the purchase and build process for the Foxbat. It does sometimes feel a lot more like an organisation for people who like to build aeroplanes and mess about in workshops, than one for people who simply want to fly, but as I own an LAA Permit aircraft, we’re stuck with each other for the foreseeable future, and I’ll continue to take advantage of the Inspector and Permit services, which are excellent.

How many types and hours have you flown?

I’ve flown three different types of flexwing (all P&M) and four different fixed-wings, Foxbat, PA28, C42 and CFM Shadow (the latter two for an hour or less).

This is mainly down to the lack of opportunity in finding other aircraft with hand controls! I’m just approaching 500hr total (and 100hr this year) and would hope both these milestones are passed by the time this goes to press!

Any favourite types?

It won’t be any surprise to find that my favourite is the Foxbat. And knowing what I do now, I’m still convinced that it was the best choice I could have made then (and now) within my budget.

Tell us about your interest in photography, and how you use flying as a means to explore.

Photography has been a hobby since I got my first SLR as a teenager. It’s waxed and waned over the years, but recently has been firmly alongside aviation on the list of things I like to spend my time on. One thing I didn’t want to lose when I transitioned from flexwing to fixed-wing was the ability to take photos without distorting perspex or glass in the way.

The Foxbat comes with the option of photo windows in the doors, easily large enough to shoot through from the pilot’s seat with a DSLR. I’ve always taken photos from the air, but more recently it’s become a bit more organised and a bit less opportunistic (although that does still happen). If I’m flying a circular route my flying buddies have to follow me round in the direction that provides the best angles for the light from the left-hand seat at the time of day. Some flights are taken specifically to be somewhere at a particular time of day, and sometimes I can end up sitting in the crew room ‘waiting for the light’.

I try to identify a few features to head for, which I think will make good photos using Google maps and other online resources such as Tripadvisor, to find out ‘what is where’.

Above Departing Finmere in the Foxbat.

Below Framlington Castle.

earthworks and antiquities. It always surprises me how these are often much better observed from 1,000ft up and how the view shows them fitting into the landscape, as opposed to from the ground where you may be closer, but simply don’t get to see the big picture. Of course, I take the usual wide angle pictures of the scenery from the aircraft, but most interest seems to be generated by the closer, more detailed pictures which simply aren’t possible with a camera phone.

One particularly interesting flight this last summer was taken early one morning as a local flight from Finmere, with the intention of locating a disappeared hill figure in Wiltshire, last seen (if it in fact ever existed, which is by no

means certain), in aerial photos taken in the very dry summer of 1966, and identified among considerable scepticism by a local archeologist about 10 years ago.

Someone I follow on Twitter had mentioned the figure and, given the very dry summer, wondered if the evidence might be visible, so I thought I’d go and have a look. While I did manage to get some images that suggested there might be something in the reports, it was far from conclusive, so I guess the controversy will continue. I still need to write this up properly but there is a teaser post on my own Twitter feed which is mostly aerial photos twitter.com/RussPinder. However the combination of the early morning light and the location did mean that I got some excellent pictures of the whole area, which is rich in Neolithic and later history, white horses, iron age forts, burial mounds, and even the odd stately home. There’s a full album of the shots taken that day at tinyurl. com/Russpinderflickrwiltshire.

Another typical day out, a week or so later, saw me at Compton Abbas for lunch before a trip along the south coast for pictures, stopping for tea at Lee-on-Solent. The sun came out for this section, and the south coast was looking its magnificent best. I’ve also managed to take in the Norfolk coast, the North East coast, the Peak District and west Wales at different times this year. Even an aircraft that most would consider slow, can really get me to places around the country and fill my Flickr and Facebook pages, as well as numerous aviation-related groups on social media.

As a disabled flyer, do you encounter any challenges when flying around the UK? Have you got any advice for airfields on how they can help?

Most airfields are very helpful, but challenges do obviously exist. The obvious ones are getting into the café and finding an accessible toilet. I accept it’s not always possible to arrange access to first floor cafés, and I and other disabled flyers don’t expect perfection.

A can-do attitude is by far the most important thing, and I don’t think making at least one toilet somewhere at least partially accessible, is too much to ask. One problem is actually finding out what the access is like before flying somewhere, and to this end I set up a website where disabled flyers can share this information – airfieldaccessibility.wordpress.com/

I often ask for preferential parking, especially if it avoids a long push over grass, and most airfields are very helpful.

I still haven’t done an overnighter; organising accessible accommodation is never easy and finding it at short notice if there are weather delays or diversions is even harder. Tents don’t work for me. It’s something I just need to get on and do!

I am very fortunate that the airfield owner at Finmere, along with the pilots I share a hangar with, have enabled me to set things up so I can fly completely independently.

I’m not reliant on anyone else at any single point between arriving at the field and leaving it. I’ve set things up so I can get the aircraft out, fuel it up, do the pre-flight, get in, get my chair in and go flying and on return get out – get the chair out, and then put aircraft back in the

Above G-FBXA. Below The Manger from White Horse Hill, Uffington, Oxfordshire.

Bottom Old Harry’s Rocks.

hanger (using a mobility scooter as a tow truck), and turn it round ready for the next flight. My aircraft always stays at the front of the hangar behind the electric door. Not having to rely on anyone is very important to me, and although I very, very rarely have to do it all on my own, the important thing is I can. There’s a video of this process on my YouTube channel – search for That Wheely

Plane Bloke

Your best aviation moment and flight – and why?

There have been a few highlights, flying over a snowcapped Snowdon was something I’d always wanted to do. Revisiting the scene of my mountain bike accident on its 17th anniversary with my life partner and soul mate Jen beside me, probably outdid that. However, although it was nothing in aviation terms, I think my absolute best aviation moment was taking an 11-year-old girl wheelchair user with the same injury as me for a flight. It showed her just what was possible, and I really enjoyed the smile on her face throughout the whole flight. Sorry, that’s three, isn’t it?

Any aviation heroes – if so, who and why?

I know it should be Douglas Bader, and he is a hero but oddly I don’t think he’s any more of a hero to me than anyone else, if pushed for a single name I think I’d have to say Sir Frank Whittle, he changed the face of aviation as an engineer and that really appeals to me, he also presented me with my civil engineering degree at my graduation.

However my real aviation heroes are all those young men with very little experience, flying and navigating bombers over the North Sea at night while being shot at. I mean I can hardly get to Fenland for a bacon butty in good VFR conditions without a GPS! I can’t see the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster flying without a huge lump in my throat, and visits to museums like at East Kirby and Old Buckenham are a sobering reminder of what they went through, and of how many didn’t come back.

Any favourite aviation books?

I’m not a big reader, but one book that did make a big impression on me and I’d advise others to get a copy, is

The Killing Zone – how and why pilots die by Paul Craig. Other than that, the books folder on my iPad is the Skyway Code, Dynon user and install manuals and the Foxbat PoH and maintenance manual!

Any lessons that you’ve learned?

I had an expensive accident about two years ago where I got caught out by a thermal, gust or windshear very close to the ground. I was completely uninjured thanks to the strength of the Foxbat cockpit, but it was an expensive lesson on (a) keeping the nosewheel up – no, really up! and, (b) at the first sign of trouble, your first completely instinctive reaction must be to apply full power and go-around. I simply wasn’t quick enough to react. I just didn’t expect things to go so awry, that close to the ground, after a perfectly good stable approach, until 10ft from touchdown. I do now!

What would be in your ‘fantasy hangar’?

I’d love to fly in a biplane of any sort, but I’ve always had a huge soft spot for a Pitts since I used to watch the Rothmans Aerobatic team practise over the fields behind my house when I was growing up. Also, completely impractical for a wheelchair user, but the one classic aircraft that always attracts me is the Beech Staggerwing. I own a 500bhp Jaguar XKR, but in my fantasy hanger there would be an E-Type to sit next to the XKR.

Do you have other non-aviation hobbies or interests?

As I said, I’m very into my photography and that does extend beyond aviation, although looking at my photo sharing sites you might not believe that. I cycle, using a handcycle a fair bit (in good weather) and did London to Paris in 2018, which I was due to repeat this year, but had to pull out due to (unfounded as it turned out) health concerns. I volunteer for a spinal injuries charity, The Backup Trust, mentoring recently injured people, helping on their online and residential courses, which is both rewarding and provides some purpose to my retirement.

Any advice for other aircraft owners and pilots?

Not sure I’m qualified to give much advice, except maybe to say don’t let anything hold you back! ■

Above The Killing Zone by Paul Craig.

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 are running some Safety Evenings up and down the country. Keep an eye on their website, www.gasco.org.uk, for further updates.

December

As always, check the Royal Aero Club Events website for the latest information and web links for many of the events: http://events.royalaeroclub.org/events.htm.

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.

7 Norwich Aviation Museum Threshold Night Photoshoot

7 Seighford GASCo Safety Evening

10 Compton Abbas Christmas Fly-in

10 Coventry Threshold Night Photoshoot Shackleton WR963

Planning ahead

Apr 8 Perth ACS Aviation Festival

May 19/20Wycombe Private Flyer Fest

May 20/21Compton Abbas Pooleys Air Day

Jun 8-10 Sywell Aero Expo

Jun 9-11 Guernsey Air Rally

May 19/20Wycombe Private Flyer Fest

Jul 7-9 Sleap Sleapkosh Fly-In

Jul 20-27 Nympsfield VGC Vintage Glider Rendezvous

Next year, around the world…

Jan 1 Foxpine (ZK) New Year Fly-In

Feb 18-19 Mandeville (ZK) Fly-In

Feb 24-26 Masterton (ZK) Wings over Wairarapa Air Show

Apr 7-9 Blenheim-Omaka (ZK)Classic

Fighters Air Show

May 28-29 Oostwold (PH)Air Show

Jul 24-30 Oshkosh, Wi EAA AirVenture National Fly-in & Display

Jul 31-Aug 14 Leszno (SP) FAI Gliding

European Ch’ships

Aug 12 Texel (PH )Texel Air Show

Aug 18 Roskilde (OY ) Air Show

Dec 2-16 Narromine FAI World Gliding Championships

LAA Hooded Sweatshirt £25.00

LAA Navy Baseball Cap £12.50

LAA

LAA Coloured Polo Shirt £18.00 LAA Fleece £30.00

Available

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LANDING

VOUCHERS

December sees us well into winter, and with, dare I say it, Christmas to think about! Here’s hoping there’s some cracking crisp winter days so you can enjoy these three great landing offers at Henstridge, Peterborough Connington and Sherburn-In-Elmet.

Aviation

FREE Landing – December Weekends

Henstridge 01963 364231

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!

With a hard runway and modern rebuilt clubhouse, the airfield offers a warm and comfortable stop or destination. Hot food available at the weekends. Please avoid flying over nearby villages. Overhead joins preferred please. Avgas, Jet A1 and UL91 available. All PPR. Closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Offer also for Boxing Day, December 31 and New Year’s Day. Radio 130.255 www.henstridgeairfield.com

Aviation

Half-Price Landing – December 2022

PeterboroughConington 01487 834161

With two hard runways, this is an ideal destination to fly into in the winter. Please PPR. Non radio not accepted. Avoid nearby Peterborough Sibson parachuting site and overflying local villages. Overhead joins please. Snacks and meals available seven days a week 1100-1500. Closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day. UL91 added to Avgas, Jet A1 on site. Radio 129.725 www.flying-club-conington.co.uk

Aviation

FREE Landing – December 2022

Sherburn-In-Elmet 01977 682674

With both hard and grass runways, it is an ideal location to visit for the winter months. PPR please. Avgas, Jet A1 and UL91 available. The Pilots Retreat gives a good choice of food, where a full Sunday roast is offered. New circuit patterns are now in place, so please refer to www.sherburnaeroclub.com/pilot-information Leeds East (was Church Fenton) now has an adjoining ATZ with Sherburn. Radio; A/G 122.610. Keep clear of all local villages. Closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day www.sherburnaeroclub.com

AIRCRAFT FOR SALE

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:

18 November 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 WEIGHING

G-CJWW SPITFIRE Mk26. 40hrs TTAE. Jabiru 8 cyl with Rotec liquid cooled heads and alternator conversion. Cruise 130kts @ 32 l/hr. Winner of Concours trophy at Grass Roots fly in 2022 and Best kit aircraft LAA Rally in 2019. The best available. Fun and rewarding to fly. Offers over £100k. 07813 713908

Scottish Aviation Bulldog - Series 120 Model 121. Ex RAF Trainer. Airframe 9825 hours, Engine 148 hours. Fatigue 105.734736. Bare metal meticulous re paint 12-2019. New Trig transponder and radio. Sold with new Permit. Outside 9.5 out of 10. Inside 7.5 out of 10. Beautiful to fly. G-BZON (XX528). Based at Earls Colne £90,000 07971 567308 david@i-ht.co.uk

PROJECTS / PARTS

Fokker DR-1 replica triplane. ‘The Red Baron’. Aircraft fully functional, excellent condition. Permit to Fly to October 2022. New Superior IO-360 engine, 180 HP. Overall 30 hours flight. Based at Felthorpe airfield near Norwich. £65,000 or offers. peterbruegg@gmail.com

RV-9A 2011 Lycoming 160HP. Dual Dynon glass cockpit with Garmin G5. Zero timed VP prop. Dual axis auto-pilot. Anti-splat. £107,000. Telephone: John on 07966 414464.

AIRFIELD PARKING / HANGARAGE

6 outside tie-down aircraft parking slots available at Holmbeck Airfield, Wing, Buckinghamshire. Friendly 500m grass runway airfield, unlimited flying, free landings, clubhouse/tea cabin, toilets. £50 per month, pluss annual Club fee of £75. Phone Bob 07748 557202.

Pietenpol project. G-CLOB.Steel fuselage.All big bits done. On undercarriage. Bereavement forces sale. Located East Yorkshire. 07973 765 552 Rotax 912UL (80HP), 466 Hours, full documentation, maintained by Rotax engineer, excellent condition, complete engine with carbs, ignition modules etc. Can be seen running at Enstone airfield. Currently in my Sky Arrow. Being replaced due to upgrade to ULS engine, £4,950. Contact Peter Turner 07968 600 406 Chipmunk unfinished project for sale for more details call 07753 794 790

Piper PA38-112 tomahawk wings with plenty of life plus some other parts available for sale for more details call 07753 794 790

SERVICES

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

Mob: 07984 810 761

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.

FOR ALL MEMBERS CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES CONTACT SHEILA

OFFICE@LAA.UK.COM

Don’t risk it with water absorbing E5 and E10 fuels (mogas). WARTER UL91 and 100LL aviation fuels are ethanol free, storage stable and have a vapour pressure suitable for ying.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

WELL-TRAVELLED HISTORY

Proudly residing on the wall of the LAA Members Lounge at Turweston is a handsome painting from the opposite side of the world, which also shows one of the most iconic aircraft in the LAA’s history. The painting is of John Isaacs’ original Fury, a 70% scale reproduction of the 1930s fighter aircraft, built by its designer between 1961 and 1963, and first flown from Thruxton Aerodrome on 30 August 1963.

Former Supermarine draughtsman, then schoolteacher, John, subsequently produced and sold plans for the aircraft, which he later bequeathed to the LAA where copies remain available to this day. In 1963, he was invited to New Zealand, where he was presented with this painting by Barry

Thompson, the builder of the first Isaacs Fury in the southern hemisphere. The painting was later donated by John to the PFA, and it carries plaques with the names of the first 18 builders of the type around the world.

John became one of the most respected luminaries of the Association and with David Armstrong, gave his name to the LAA’s Armstrong-Isaacs bursary scheme to assist younger aviators in completing their PPLs. John’s original prototype, G-ASCM, isn’t often very far away, either. It is based at Hinton Airfield just a few miles from LAA HQ and, as its owner is Turweston Flying Club CFI Paul Shenton, it is a regular visitor. Indeed, it is frequently parked just outside the office window!

Steve Slater

The stories behind items in the LAA’s collection