LIGHT AVIATION VOLUME 14 ISSUE 9 SEPTEMBER 2021
THE MAGAZINE OF THE LIGHT AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION
LIGHT
Aviation September 2021 £4.25
VIVE LA DIFFERENCE
Clive Davidson flies the classic Norvigie
Light Aircraft Association WWW.LAA.UK.COM
PROJECT NEWS
WE HOPE TO SEE THIS NEW ISAACS SPITFIRE AT THE RALLY!
MEET THE MEMBERS
RV ENTHUSIAST ANDY PHILLIPS IS NOW ON HIS FOURTH BUILD…
Whatever you fly, aim to fly it on 26 October to celebrate 75 years of the LAA!
The Team Chairman TIM HARDY CEO STEPHEN SLATER Chief Engineer FRANCIS DONALDSON B.Tech C.Eng FRAeS Chief Inspector KEN CRAIGIE President ROGER HOPKINSON MBE Vice Presidents BRIAN DAVIES & JOHN BRADY Engineering email engineering@laa.uk.com COMMERCIAL 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 BRIAN HOPE
60 Queenborough Road, Sheerness, Kent ME12 3BZ Telephone 01795 662508 Email bfjjodel@talktalk.net
Rally-Ho! After a long wait…
H
i everybody, as I write the Rally is only a couple of weeks away and the longrange forecast is looking good. I am looking forward to a great weekend and I hope to be able to catch up with a lot of friends I haven’t seen for way too long. Whether you are able to attend or not, we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to those who have pulled out the stops to make the event happen, despite the mountain of unfortunate problems brought about by the effects of the pandemic. This month our cover feature is a rather quirky French military design, the Nord Norvigie, the only UK example although it does share its heritage with the earlier Nord 853S civilian two-seat trainer, a handful of which are owned by members (p36). Martin Ferid discusses visiting Hull and Beverley, part of what a performer might call his 2021 UK Tour as none of his destinations have, understandably, been outside of the UK this year. I hope it has opened our eyes to some of the treasures we have available here at home, I know not everybody has the desire to fly around Europe anyway. That said, despite drones making the Channel crossing potentially more complex, I hope that next season the opportunities of flying in Europe are freely open to those who have so sorely missed them for the past two years (p16). Our meet the members subject this month is Andy Phillips, who many know as a Van’s aircraft enthusiast and the founder of Andair Ltd., which produces top quality aircraft fuel system components. Like many of our members, Andy has
led a very interesting life, training as an engineering apprentice and working under Sir Barnes Wallis in his youth (p54). LAA Training Courses came into being over 10 years ago and have enjoyed a modicum of success, being well received by members keen to learn the required skills to build and maintain their aircraft. Unfortunately, they have been unavailable since the spring of 2020, but plans are afoot to reintroduce them at the beginning of 2022, subject to there being no further Covid problems. We are also looking to increase the subjects available, hopefully with the help of some of our skilled members and Inspectors (p22). I have not had the time to burn my new Nomex shirt – as yet. You may recall that I intend to see how comfortable it is and how it stands up to its advertised flame retardancy. I can tell you that it is perfectly comfortable, which is half the battle I suppose, but have decided to compare it to normal cotton and manmade fibre shirts as regards being flameproof. More next month… Hope to see you at the Rally, Brian.
By Brian Hope September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 3
Chairman’s Chat
Our Association is one to be proud of… By Tim Hardy
W
elcome everybody to this September edition of your Association magazine and, depending upon our postal system, you may well be scanning these pages while at the 75th Anniversary LAA Rally. I hope you are having a great time among the huge variety of exhibitors and vendors that the Rally team has managed to assemble on your behalf, they’ve worked extremely hard under quite unpredictable circumstances to bring it home this year, so please express your support and encouragement to Eryl, Penny and the team. Elsewhere at Sywell, you will have been able to see the enormous variety of aircraft types that the LAA team administers, and when you think about the effort that goes into not only flying and maintaining these types but also the engineering support and administration working away quietly in the background to keep them all airworthy, then this is surely an amazing Association. Talking about engineering, John Ratcliffe, our new Engineering Director will have joined the Association by the time you read this and certainly intends to be at the Rally so, if you see him, make sure you give him a hearty welcome, as will we all. I hope you have been able to fly as often as you would wish. We have had a slightly tricky few weeks for weather but there seemed to have been an opportunity to fly at least briefly on most days, albeit often under leaden skies it seems. I have been drawn recently to David Cockburn’s regular Coaching Corner column on flying skills; most of his advice comes about against a backdrop of getting to know your aircraft well in order to get the best out of both it and yourself, as a pilot.
4 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
09 LETTERS
Do we need QFE? Outstanding service
10 PROJECT NEWS Of particular interest was his piece about understanding that to achieve certain air speeds, say on approach, that the power, trim and attitude are all so important and need to be regularly practiced, and that in doing so a nice, predictable air speed and aircraft behaviour will result. It’s certainly something to think about when you are next planning a trip to nowhere in particular, and a good opportunity to build in some of this learning en route, after all the journey is most of what we look forward to, not necessarily the tea and cake at the other end! Another area that needs looking at is your weight, nothing to do with my last remark about the cake but maybe that’s relevant as well – no, what I mean is, are you carrying stuff you don’t need because it is not relevant to the trip, like leftovers from the last major cross country? I noticed in one particular case recently, the back of the aircraft was cluttered with tools, towbar and even a spare wheel – I know we should all prepare for the worst but even so, this seemed like overkill, until the owner insisted that he needed all of this weight on board to flare the aircraft, something wrong there surely. I hope you’re not feeling that what I have said is all obvious stuff that every pilot knows from their basic training. When you bear in mind that while the average number of hours typically flown by LAA Pilot members is 50 hours per year, a third of our members fly less than 30 hours per year, so we should really make every flying hour count towards not only our enjoyment, but also our safety. Have a great Rally and enjoy the rest of your summer.
Two Bristell NG5 Speed Wings, Isaacs Spitfire, Cleared to Fly and New Projects
16 FLYING ADVENTURE
Martin Ferid takes a short haul flight to Hull, birthplace of famed aviatrix Amy Johnson…
20 SHADES OF CONCERN
Ian Fraser takes a polarised position on pilot sunglasses…
22 TRAINING COURSES
Brian Hope says let’s work together to expand the range of LAA training courses
26 COACHING CORNER
David Cockburn warns of wake turbulence repercussions, even from a light aircraft, for aircraft following on…
29 WHERE TO GO
Put these dates in your 2021 diary…
30 ENGINEERING
Francis Donaldson on 600kg and E10 mogas…
36 FLIGHT TEST
Clive Davidson flies the classic Norvigie…
44 GREEN AIRFIELD
How unspoilt airfield outland can help protect the airfield for generations to come
48 BUILD-A-PLANE
Apprentices move Rans S6 along after four years of inactivity
50 FLY-IT DAY
Steve Slater invites you to mark our 75th Anniversary by going flying on 26 October
52 STRUTS4U
Anne Hughes profiles Strut activities…
54 MEET THE MEMBERS
We talk to Andy Phillips, an enthusiastic RV builder and flyer, and the man behind fuel system component company, Andair Ltd
60 CEO THOUGHTS
Steve Slater stresses the importance of encouraging ‘new blood’ into LAA
62 LANDING VOUCHERS
Check out the October vouchers on offer…
Contents September 2021
36 Nord NC856A Norvigie
44
22
48
September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 5
LA News
News
Plenty more news is available on the LAA website at www.laa.uk.com check it out every day!
LAA Welcomes CAA Announcement on 600kg Sport Aircraft The LAA welcomes the announcement by the CAA of the recategorisation of microlight aircraft, issued on 19 August. Basically, it means a new selection of sub-600kg, factory-built sport aircraft can be made available to microlight and light aircraft pilots alike, on a Permit to Fly administered by either the BMAA or LAA, rather than as would previously have been the case, they being on a Certificate of Airworthiness. Either a new design or variant of an existing type can be certified at a selected weight not exceeding 600kg, to the amended BCAR Section S code and, providing the manufacturers can gain the necessary CAA design and manufacturing approvals, it can then be supplied as a factory-built aircraft but qualify for a Permit to Fly. “This is a significant step forward for the recreational aviation market,” said CEO Steve Slater. “The changes announced by the CAA are the culmination of several years’ work that have taken place jointly by experts from the LAA, BMAA, CAA and industry. The Permit to Fly regime offers more flexibility on costs and
Above Exciting times for the Light Aviation industry, the Tecnam P2002 Sierra II, is just one of a breed of exciting 600kg ready to fly types.
means that the machines can be maintained and inspected, and have their Permits to Fly renewed annually, by the sporting associations including the LAA, who have a great deal of experience of dealing with aircraft in this class over many years. We currently oversee more than 300
John Ratcliffe joins LAA team Our new Engineering Director, John Ratcliffe, joined the LAA team on 23 August. He will work alongside Francis Donaldson to provide technical and managerial leadership to HQ-based design and airworthiness engineers, the chief inspector and LAA inspectors. The aim is to maintain standards and develop a better service to LAA members, and to provide director-level technical expertise to the CEO and the Board. John has a long and interesting history in aircraft engineering and management. 6 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
A self-confessed ‘aircraft nut’ from an early age, John joined the RAF as a technician and graduated through the ranks as an engineering officer, before moving to the civil sector. Along the way, one of his roles was as Chief Engineer for 32 (The Royal) Squadron, the RAF’s VVIP operation. John has also just started his PPL training with a view to getting himself into the air too. Right John Ratcliffe, right, chats with LAA President Roger Hopkinson about his RV-6A
aircraft in the microlight class.” The CAA has summarised the regulation changes and what they mean for the community in CAA CAP2163: Reforming the microlight aeroplane category. (https://tinyurl. com/4phej8jn), and further info and a Q&A is available at www.laa.uk.com
LA News
The 2021 AGM of the Light Aircraft Association The Annual General Meeting of the Light Aircraft Association Ltd. (LAA) is traditionally held at Sywell Aerodrome on the third Sunday of October each year. This year, subject to Covid-19 restrictions, we intend to revert to our usual face-to-face meeting at Sywell at the earlier time of 11am on Sunday 24 October. We will also have a hybrid meeting capability, using the popular Zoom teleconference application, allowing members to participate even if they are not able to, or wish not to, attend in person.
The link to the meeting will be https://bit.ly/3CIaM5v – please type into your browser, (Zoom Meeting ID: 836 5020 4097) with Passcode: 167727. Our hybrid AGM will also feature electronic voting, as well as proxy votes and polling of those in the room to fulfil the usual formalities of an AGM and meet our mandatory requirements as a Limited Company. In addition, once the formalities are complete, we will allocate time to a Member Forum to allow as many members as possible to quiz Board
Pilot Medical Declaration renewals If you have already made a Medical Declaration under the previous NPPL system that is countersigned by your GP (Article 73A of the ANO 2009) and made it before 25 August 2016, this certificate was only valid for a
maximum of five years, and is therefore not valid beyond 25 August 2021. All such pilots will be required to make a new Medical Declaration using the online Pilot Medical Declaration system to remain legal after that date.
Promotion of UL91 fuel The DfT is keen to drive greater use of UL91 and we have pointed out that supply and infrastructure, and the higher costs of providing the current lower volumes, are the primary impediments to take-up. We have also ascertained around 90% of the LAA fleet can run on UL91 without problems. The LAA and AOPA are therefore advocating that a grant system be established, similar to that established
to support fitment of electronic conspicuity equipment, to help airfields equip with UL91 bowsers or tankage. We are additionally lobbying for tax concessions to allow UL91 to be retailed at a lower price, to drive short-term take-up and volume increase. We are also working with the fuel supply companies to increase their interest in providing more frequent UL91 deliveries.
members and LAA staff, and to discuss some proposals for future initiatives and Association directives. A full list of Motions and an AGM Schedule will be circulated with the October Light Aviation magazine and online. Notices of Motion of any kind for the AGM must be received at LAA HQ no later than Sunday 4 September 2021. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments for both the AGM or the Member’s Forum, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us via office@laa.uk.com.
Medical Decs OK for Channel Islands
Following the fine efforts of AOPA, the Director of Civil Aviation for the Channel Islands has recently confirmed the ability of UK registered aircraft being conducted by holders of UK issued pilot licences, who have a UK CAA Pilot Medical Declaration (PMD), to fly to, from and within the Channel Islands. Such flights will be subject to being conducted in accordance with the privileges and any other conditions imposed by the UK CAA. The DCA plans to update the Regulatory Framework Document to reflect this policy and provide guidance to operators. AOPA has also intimated that news on Permit to Fly exemptions is imminent.
Long overdue… Henry Bean submitted his Junior Class winning Flying Yesterday and Tomorrow entry to the LAA/FAI Aviation Art Contest for 2020, when he was eight years old. However, owing to Covid restrictions, he unfortunately had to wait until after his 10th birthday for his prize. Henry arrived with his family at Turweston for a flight in Turweston Flying Club’s PA 28 Piper Warrior on 8 August and took to the air, with his mum in the back and instructor Toby at the controls. Both mother and son returned with huge smiles and Henry continued sharing his observational skills as he identified all the aircraft
Left Henry Bean enjoys his competition prize flight at Turweston.
types in the hangars. Anne Hughes said that it was a privilege to meet such an amazing and talented young man and to hear how he enjoyed taking control during his first flight in a light aircraft.
Thank you to the LAA for funding the flights of these young artists. Our Intermediate and Senior winners are still looking forward to their flights later in the summer. September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 7
LA News
Thomas Castle Heritage Trust The Sywell-based Thomas Castle Aviation Heritage Trust will offer four further young pilot flying scholarships for 2022. In its first year, even despite Covid lockdowns, four pilots each completed five hours’ training on the Tiger Moth as recipients of the scholarships. In addition, the Trust plans to expand its activities further, offering maintenance and fabric-work training in the New Year to encourage potential candidates to learn more about maintaining and looking after heritage aircraft. The Thomas Castle Trust is named in memory of the young pilot who, in August 2019, lost his life in an aerobatics training accident. The loss was felt by many in the historic aviation community; in particular at Sywell in Northants where Thomas, working with his father Ian, helped rebuild de Havilland Tiger Moth G-ANTE to pristine condition, gained his PPL and soloed his beloved Tiger. Thomas also worked with Richard Grace and the Ultimate Warbirds team at Sywell on Spitfires, Messerschmitts and P-51 Mustangs. There is little doubt that one day he would have been at their controls. The Trust was created around the Tiger Moth, with the aim of using it in Thomas’ memory to provide post-PPL flying training to allow other young pilots a greater insight into vintage aviation. The initiative has been supported by the Light Aircraft Association, Ultimate
Above Eighteen-year-old Megan Booth, one of the TCHT scholarship pilots.
Warbirds, Vintec (Vintage Engine Technology), Sharman Avionics, de Havilland Support Limited, Vintage Fabrics of Audley End and Henstridge-based Aircraft Coverings Limited. In addition, a number of
well-known warbird and display pilots have offered their services as instructors. Further information for scholarship applicants will shortly be available on the Ultimate Warbirds website.
Rotax to cease production of 582UL engine BRP-Rotax has announced that it will cease production of the two-stroke Rotax 582 UL aircraft engine by the end of 2021. The decision has been taken due to the near full transition of the light
and ultralight aircraft market towards four-stroke aircraft engines. The engine will still be available via the Rotax authorised distribution network worldwide as long as the existing stock
at the distributors lasts. The company will continue to provide technical service for all existing Rotax 582 UL customers and aims to provide parts availability up to 10 years after cessation of production.
Thanks to Rally sponsors Our thanks go to Garmin, Light Aero Spares and Cambrai Covers for their much-appreciated sponsorship at the LAA Rally. Once again Garmin will support
8 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Speaker’s Corner which this year will be in Hangar 2. We are delighted to welcome for the first time Trevor Pegrum, Garmin’s Manager of Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
LAS is once again supporting the revised Homebuilder’s Marquee arrangements, and Cambrai Coverings the Rally programme, which will be available at the entrance gate.
July 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 8
Contents
Letters
Letters We are always pleased to receive your letters and feedback. Please email the editor at bfjjodel@talktalk.net
Do we really need QFE?
Hi Brian, having spent five decades flying aircraft both large and small, I am convinced that GA altimeter setting procedures in the UK are far too complicated. Do we really need Regional Settings? Do we really need QFE? VFR pilots flying in Class G airspace usually have to reset their altimeter several times, and two problems arise. Firstly, there is always a chance of setting an incorrect subscale setting every time it is adjusted and secondly, distraction during resetting can draw the pilot’s attention away from other vital tasks, such as lookout and navigational monitoring. A simpler procedure would be to set local QNH for the whole flight, resetting only if the QNH changes. Rarely does barometric pressure change rapidly, so even if the subscale was not reset at all during the flight the resulting altimeter error would be unlikely to exceed 100ft or so. Is this significant for VFR flight? Two further advantages of ‘local QNH’ flight are improving terrain awareness and reducing the potential for violation of controlled airspace, which in the lower levels usually has a base expressed as an altitude. For student pilots doing circuit work, patterns flown with QNH set would not be difficult to learn. When they came to land away from base, adding field elevation to circuit heights to determine circuit altitude would be part of their pre-flight preparations and could be recorded on the nav log. If a MATZ controller specifies a QFE-based penetration height it is easy to convert this to a QNH-based altitude, rounding up or down to the nearest 100ft. Finally, it should be noted that commercial airliners and most GA aircraft around the world fly local QNH below transition altitude and 1013 above it. If it works for the big boys and girls, why not for GA traffic too? Best wishes, Julien Evans.
Outstanding service
A fellow syndicate member and I flew our SportCruiser to Haverfordwest – a new destination for us both. On arrival we were welcomed with a friendly smile and exchanged a little light-hearted banter before making our way to the well-appointed facilities and cafe. Having put the world to rights and downed an excellent lunch, we made our way back to our aircraft – only to find a very flat starboard main wheel tyre. We sought assistance in order that we might get home before nightfall and were directed to Jonathan and Patricia Porter of Metal Seagulls. 33 | LIGHT AVIATION | January 2019
Finally, an apology to Gwen, who as a result of our delaying mum and dad until 1930, missed her promised playpark visit that day. She is a star! Kind regards, Sheldon Rowles and Ian Graham.
The right stuff
Above Budding aircraft mechanic, Gwen We explained our plight and awaited a sharp intake of breath and shaking of head, but no, within minutes we were being accompanied by Jonathan, Patricia and Gwen (their five-year-old daughter) back to our aircraft with a mobile compressor in tow. Regrettably, it was clear that the tyre required further investigation. In short, a punctured inner tube required a patch. Despite the need to jack up the aircraft, remove the wheel and split the rim, repairs were completed and we were on our way in time to land back home just before sunset. Throughout, Jonathan and Patricia were the perfect hosts, professional engineers and consummate entertainers – not least little Gwen who, with notepad and pen in hand, quizzed us both as to the circumstances of our misfortune and conjectured as to how the incident might have occurred. If ever there was a budding AAIB investigator, then she is it! We are both extremely grateful to all at Metal Seagulls and recommend them without hesitation should you have use of their services.
Dear Editor. I have just read the August 2021 Issue and I am left with a sense of déjà vu having digested Steve’s excellent article on appropriate flight clothing. I have always been conscious of the dangers of fire after any powered aircraft accident, and have never understood pilots who will happily climb into the aircraft wearing nothing more than they would do going to the beach. These considerations are not confined to post-accident circumstances – fire at any time is always a possibility, however remote it may seem. This became particularly prevalent in my time as Tugmaster with Lasham Gliding Society when I frequently mentioned to individual Tug Pilots that it wasn’t a good idea to go flying in little more than shorts, tee-shirt and sandals. Generally, these comments fell on deaf ears. I must admit to the occasional polo-shirt that left arms exposed but generally in my case it would be a long-sleeved shirt, jeans and reasonably strong footwear. The only time I would wear a purpose made flying suit would be in something like a Chipmunk and the Bulldog although perhaps this was more to do with protecting your clothes from oil and other contaminants. As Steve points out, it is an individual choice, but the consequences could be dire. As a final comment and affirmation of Steve’s comment regarding baseball caps – these are effectively now prohibited from being worn in the conventional sense by tug-pilots because of the risk of blind spots in what may be a very intense traffic environment. Best Regards, Fergus Buchanan.
OED at the ready…
Dear Sir, another great issue – thanks to all who make it happen. I am particularly enjoying Martin Ferrid’s pieces, but I think your readers need to know – is he on a one-man crusade to improve the vocabulary of the LAA membership? Last month we had ‘bovarism’ and this month it was ‘banausic’. I think for next month I’ll make sure I’ve got the dictionary to hand before I open the magazine… All the best, Martin Watson. ■ September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 9
Project News
Projects which inspire others to build their own aircraft Compiled by Mike Slaughter
Project News L ooking down the New Projects listing at the end of this column, I see that the Sling 4 TSi continues a run of relative dominance. Over the last six months it’s virtually accounted for one in every four new project registrations. Impressive for any manufacturer, but this is a single model type. Clearly it possesses attributes that many feel makes it worthy of their hard earned, hopefully we’ll see an update on one of the builds in the not-too-distant future – anyone? In this month’s column, we have tales of two Bristells, another popular type for Project News, but interestingly both are repeat builds for their owners. Chris Simpson’s story below is one of alternating RV ownership and Bristell building. Geoff Beale’s is described as a winter lockdown project and was only around seven months from start to finish. We have so many tech options that we can now add to our projects,
but I’ve never heard of anyone adding a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) to an LAA type before. It’s an interesting idea and indeed I have suffered two punctures myself this season both fortunately at home base. Geoff has added TPMS to his Bristell following previous problems of his own. Such enhancements set me thinking, many new projects feature fully configurable electronic display systems for flight and engine monitoring. Is it time we started detecting these other inputs like TPMS into them? I know my Mini Cooper loves to nag me that it’s time to inflate the near side rear wheel, replace the brake pads, book a service and so on. A winter project perhaps! To get in touch with Project News, and tell your story, report a milestone or just to send a pic, email: projectnews@laa-archive.org. uk. Please share your story!
G-CLUI (LAA 385-15690) Bristell NG5 Speed Wing By Chris Simpson
B
ristell G-CLUI is my second aircraft of this type. Some time ago I’d lost, and subsequently regained, my medical but in between I had sold my much loved RV-9A. So, with a regained medical but nothing to fly, I decided to build a Bristell, as I knew the UK agents. They were also local to me, so technical support would be readily available. Construction was not particularly difficult, but the build manual was not very good, although this has now been greatly improved. The aircraft was completed in a just over a year and, much to my relief, flew very well from the first flight. The performance and handling were not quite up to Van’s RV standard (100hp versus 160hp) but were acceptable to me and the fuel burn was very much reduced. One big bonus was that the Bristell was much better on grass than my RV, which had what some consider the suspect RV nose gear, although I had strengthened mine with the approved ‘Anti-Splat’ device from the USA. The Bristell nose gear has a coil spring and shock absorber at the pivot point and is able to handle rough strips that I wouldn't have even considered
10 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
landing at in my RV. Of course, one of the secrets of landing nose gear RVs on grass is to perform good landings where the touch down is always on the main gear first. Bristell ‘number one’ and I were getting on very well, until out of the blue I was offered an RV-6A, complete with hangarage at Shoreham, which is always in rather short supply. I simply couldn’t resist the prospect of dashing around again at 140-plus knots, so I sold the Bristell and bought the RV. This example was somewhat more elderly than my first RV and the purchase turned out to be a poor move. She flew very well, and the engine never missed a beat, but the aircraft seemed to suffer from recurrent and annoying faults. I was getting a bit fed up with constantly having to work on it while the rest of the hangar went flying, so I decided to sell it on. I then decided to build another Bristell, for the same reasons I built the first one, the decision being helped by the fact that Bristell UK had a kit in stock. I thought that as I knew what I was doing this time, the elapsed time for the build would be much shorter. I duly started the build and then Covid struck along
Project News
Above Bristell ‘number two’ about to set off for the first flight. Photo: Chris Simpson Left Cockpit interior finished and complete, a plus point of the Bristell is all of the ready-made finishing panels resulting in a modern ‘automotive’ style appearance. Photo: Chris Simpson.
with the first lockdown. I wasn’t building the aircraft at home as my double garage was too small this time, so I had to stop everything. Fortunately though, I had brought the instrument panel blank home and completed this during the lockdown as I had, or could order online, everything I needed. Covid has had a dramatic effect on the build time, and it has taken considerably longer overall than my first Bristell. The kit was much the same as the first one except for being quite a bit more expensive! Some improvements had been made, such as the canopy locks now have two stages to reduce the risk of it opening in flight, the nosewheel steering is now operated by two Teleflex cables instead of one, the electric drive mechanism for the Fiti prop is different, and presumably better, and the build manual is much improved with many more photographs. Also, the CofG datum point and calculation is different from my first Bristell, with a solid steel spacer between the
prop and Rotax gearbox instead of an aluminium one, and a much heavier battery mounted on the firewall instead of the very light lithium battery on Bristell number one, both of which bring the CofG further forward. However, during testing the aircraft felt just the same as my first Bristell to fly. I also decided to fit an autopilot this time, and of course that also added time to the build. The aircraft was duly completed, and engine runs successfully made to check for leaks, etc. The testing of the aircraft was carried out by Farry Sayyah at Shoreham over two days on the 15 and 24 June, when the aircraft flew very nicely, and all was found to be satisfactory. The full Permit to Fly has now been issued and my Rally slot is booked. Many thanks are due to Farry for his advice and guidance, and to my wife and others for her and their help when four (or more) hands were required during the build. September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 11
Project News
G-XGAB (LAA 385-15716) Bristell NG5 Speed Wing By Geoff Beale
I
n the middle of 2020, one of my flying buddies asked whether I would be willing to sell my Bristell. He had been impressed with it ever since he first saw it at Henlow. To cut a long story short, he didn’t pursue the purchase, so I advertised the aircraft online with AFORS and it sold within 24 hours, and at a price significantly greater than my buddy had offered, and what it had cost me to build, less my time of course. However, the new kit had gone up 30% in the meantime, so my new one cost me a lot more. My new kit arrived early September and, as it was my second Bristell, it was a lot quicker to build, since I knew what I wanted and where to get all the bits that were not provided in the kit. It was my winter lockdown project, and I have since given a presentation to my Rotary club about the build. It was effectively finished by the end of March 2021, bar tweaks and minor changes that my Inspector wanted. Covid and other
Below In the hangar and waiting to be test flown. Photo: Geoff Beale. L
Left The very neat servo installation for the autopilot. Photo: Geoff Beale. Right The component parts of the Magnum 601 whole aircraft recovery system. Photo: Geoff Beale.
12 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
issues delayed my Inspector coming up to my garage to sign it off before shipping it to the airfield. This meant it was the end of May before I could tackle the final assembly and fit the wings. My Inspector and the LAA have signed it off in the last few weeks and I now await the test flight paperwork, hopefully in the next day or so. The engine is the same as in the previous example, a Rotax 912 ULS, and the aircraft has all the options the kit manufacturer supplies, too numerous to list. Avionics wise, I opted for the top end Dynon SkyView HDX 1100 with a Garmin G5 backup, Trig radio and Dynon (Trig) transponder. It has the full Dynon autopilot from day one, in my last aircraft I fitted the autopilot a couple of years after finishing the build. I also have a panel fitting for my iPad mini which runs SkyDemon. For EC I have fitted a PilotAware Rosetta. Following an incident a couple of years ago on a
Project News
take-off roll from Coventry, debris on the runway punctured one of my main tyres. So, I have fitted a tyre pressure monitor to ensure I know if I have a flat and can take measures when landing. Also fitted is a ballistic whole aircraft parachute in case it all goes pear shaped up top. I had great difficulty obtaining a system, my last aircraft used the American BRS parachute, and I was the first to use it on the Bristell. With Brexit problems though, there was no way of getting one out of the European distributor in Germany. The US supplier would have sold me one directly but there were no rockets likely to be available until the end 2021. However, a fellow flyer had a Magnum 601 system which he had never fitted to his Bristell, and it had recently been serviced by the Czech manufacturer. We agreed on a price and I bought it off him and fitted it. Since it was a different parachute system, I had to go through the whole LAA mod process. It was a lot easier than the first time, so Bristell builders now have the choice of two different ballistic parachutes to install if they wish. Why build a second Bristell and not something else? I did fly another option before deciding but found it wanting in a number of areas. The Bristell was the most comfortable and the best kitted out aircraft, so it wasn’t a difficult decision. Since my last build, BRM Aero has made some nice changes. One bugbear I had with my last Bristell was that the canopy latch would occasionally pop open in flight. Not dangerous, just noisy, windy and frustrating. The new one has an improved locking mechanism that shouldn’t suffer the same problem. It also has a double nicoflex link from the pedals to the front steerable nosewheel. Student pilots
Top Slick and virtually finished cockpit, you can just see the BRS handle in the P1 footwell. Photo: Geoff Beale.. Above The parachute system installed and ready to be hooked up to the parachute canopy. Photo: Geoff Beale.
in Europe had tried to turn the nosewheel whilst stationary and had been bending the fixing brackets. A double link has made this a lot more difficult. It’s not a problem that I have suffered as I only turn when the aircraft is moving. Incidentally, the cost of the supplied Bristell kit was similar to my alternatively considered type. The most challenging part of the build was sorting out the complex avionics wiring and checking it out. But as the saying goes, one piece at a time. I am now just waiting for its first flight and final sign off before full permit. I would love to think it will be sorted for me to be able to fly into the LAA Rally… September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 13
Project News
G-CLMC (LAA 027-15453) Isaacs Spitfire By Richard Teverson
I
t doesn’t seem like five years ago, but time flies! That’s when we last had an update from Richard on his then finished Menestrel. Keen to fill the building void when that project flew the workshop, Richard thought an Isaacs Spitfire might be an interesting type to tackle – and here it is. Started in November 2016, he received his Permit to
Below Graceful or sleek? This is an undeniably attractive aircraft that we’d all be very proud to own. Photo: Richard Teverson.
test in May this year. Richard reports that the aircraft flew very well, although quite differently to the Menestrel, and that most of the testing is complete with the exception of some of the aerobatic test flying. It’s hoped the paperwork will be completed in time for the Rally, as the aircraft’s slot is already booked.
New Projects If your aircraft has been featured in the New Projects list, please let Project News know of your progress at: projectnews@laa-archive.org.uk n Sling 4 TSi (LAA 400A-15774) 19/7/2021 Name & Address held by LAA Engineering
n Sling 4 TSi (LAA 400A-15773) 16/7/2021 Mr A P Ringrose, Priorswood, Rosemary Lane, Alfold, Surrey, GU6 8EY n Aeroprakt A32 Vixxen (LAA 411-15776) 26/7/2021 Name & Address held by LAA Engineering n Van’s RV-12iS (LAA 363A-15772) 7/7/2021
Mr M Streatfield, 10 Oxenham Way, Stowmarket, Suffolk, IP14 1WD n TL2000UK Sting Carbon S4 (LAA 347A15775) 21/7/2021 Name & Address held by LAA Engineering
Cleared To Fly n G-CLKY Mission M108 (LAA 370-15672) 7/7/2021 Name & Address held by LAA Engineering n G-CLMA Van’s RV-12 (LAA 363-15502) 7/7/2021 Name & Address held by LAA Engineering n G-CYGI Hapi Cygnet SF-2A (PFA 182-12084) 7/7/2021 Name & Address held by LAA Engineering
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-archive.org.uk n G-XGAB Bristell NG5 Speed Wing (LAA 385-15716) 28/7/2021 Mr Geoffrey Beale, 1 The Drive, Wheathampstead, St. Albans, AL4 8LE n G-XIVA Van’s RV-14A (LAA 393-15468) 7/7/2021 Mr Robert Jones, 7a Castle Street, Christchurch, BH23 1DP
14 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Above G-CLKY Mission 108 just about ready to test fly. Photo: Lambert Aircraft.
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Flying Adventure
HAUL YOURSELF TO HULL FOR A WEEKEND BREAK It may have been a while since we Channel hopped, but Martin Ferid takes himself to ’ull – birthplace of Amy Johnson…
G
enerally speaking, those of us that enjoy a bit of Channel hopping tend to stretch the end of the touring season from around the end of this month well into the next. It's hard to think that a whole year has come and gone without a spaghetti alla carbonara, a paella or a bouillabaisse in their countries of origin. In fact, to be honest, a simple steak frites would have done. I concluded that rather than capitulate to umpteen negative feelings, as aviation is made more complex, difficult and expensive, I should attenuate things with a more relaxed approach. I've failed, of course, in fact quite abysmally, and get ever more frustrated with each bureaucratic attempt in the irrefragable ‘death by a thousand cuts’. Much as I haven’t quite reached the stage
16 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Above Hull Beverley is a pleasant grass airfield but a taxi ride from town. Photo: FLYER
where I believe in sightings of Elvis and conspiracy theories, I can see how others well might.
Joining the PCS
One way of getting the most out of this world we indulge in is not to wait for aleatory inputs, but by attempting something new or challenging. Although I’ve been teaching independently for a long while now, after a chat with National Coach Chris Thompson, I'm about to join the LAA team of coaches. Having read some of their bios, as far as aviation goes, I will certainly be in some prestigious company and can only hope that I can hold my end up and do the rest of them justice. My passion has always been Continental touring, so I’m all for less hangar-time and more air under those wings. Hand in hand with that, I'm hoping for greater uptake of the
Flying Adventure Wings Award Scheme and seeing more of you on our fly-outs next year. If you have yet to make your first Channel crossing, it may be just the boost that’s needed. By way of an incentive, I plan to automatically award LAA members their Wings Award as part of the biennial for all that meet the criteria.lightaircraftassociation.co.uk/Wings/index.html. For those with, let’s say, a censorious disposition, sitting in a favourite armchair, feet up, lamenting the ‘good old days’, there are still alternative options to the pipe and slippers. There is an unsurpassed wealth of flying and engineering experience among the readership that really shouldn’t go to waste. Velleity alone will not produce results, so if you’re a bit handy with the spanners, consider getting involved with the LAA courses which, as you will see elsewhere in this issue, Brian is hoping to breathe some expansive air into. Others who have flown far and wide could find an instructor’s course not only sharpens up the flying but provides a perfect platform to pass on those skills. My next personal challenge is to get more comfortable with test-flying and I have already spoken to Dan Griffith, about the previous LAA courses. I’m not sure if test pilots come as a special breed, with inbuilt celerity and natural ability, or whether their nerves are just extracted sometime post PPL. All I can say is that when everything is flashing red, overheating or sounding wrong, I’d like an easier way of handling it. This was the case the last time I was at this month’s destination, Beverley, test-flying a Bristell NG5.
Right One of the most famous woman pilots of all time, Amy Johnson, who was born in Hull. Below William Wilberforce MP, born in Hull and the instigator of the movement to abolish the slave trade.
Heading to Hull
We hear about the North/South divide, but heading north the things I tend to notice are that prices get cheaper and the people more friendly. In Yorkshire itself, in fact, anywhere you meet a Yorkshire man/woman, they are proud to tell you where they’re from, ‘born ‘n bred’ in fact. Although Hull is part of the East Riding of Yorkshire, it has always had an independent streak and operates its own council. Originally called Wyke-upon-Hull, it sits on both banks of the River Hull, that flows into the Humber. Pronounced ’ull by the locals, its full title is KingstonUpon-Hull, after Edward I expropriated it from the monks of Meaux Abbey in 1293 and renamed the medieval wool port. Following the exportation of wool, it was fishing, whaling and shipbuilding that became the mainstays of the area’s economy. The fishing industry flourished after a charter signed by King Henry II in the 12th century, and shipbuilding became a major industry during the 1600s. Captain Blythe’s HMS Bounty, made famous by the mutiny, was built in its docks and, following a visit some 300 years ago by Daniel Defoe, he was so inspired by the frenetic activity that his fictional Robinson Crusoe departs on his adventures from the port. You’ll also find some well-known household items that were developed in Hull, including Lemsip, Gaviscon, Bonjela, LCD screens and, back in the 19th century, boiled sweets. Being Yorkshire, it would be incomplete without a maker of Yorkshire puddings and Aunt Bessie’s factory is based in the town, employing a staff of 350. During WWII, Hull took a battering, with up to 90% of its buildings and much of its historic architecture destroyed, making it the most bombed city after London. If you know where to look, bullet holes can still be seen on some of those buildings that were left standing. Walking around, you’ll notice that its telephone boxes are painted creamy white and are devoid of the usual crown. The colour choice was down to the Hull Corporation
Phone Department’s independent streak, and the lack of the crown pays tribute to the events of 1642 when Charles I was refused entry to the city. That little episode led to the start of the English Civil War (22 August 1642 – 3 September 1651). The world-famous Humber Bridge was a feat of engineering in its day and set the record for the world’s longest suspension bridge at 2,220 metres when it opened in 1981. In more recent years, as Hull’s fortunes have improved, in 2017 it was voted UK’s City of Culture, which was quite an accolade for what was at one time, quite a rundown city.
Famous sons and daughters
Two well-known and truly remarkable Hullensians, as they are known, were: William Wilberforce MP (24 August 1759 – 29 July1833), the drive behind the movement in abolishing the slave trade. His mission began in April 1791, when he made a four-hour address before Parliament for its suppression, although it took until 1807 for the objective to be achieved. The second is aviatrix extraordinaire, Amy Johnson CBE (1 July 1903 – 5 January 1941) who gained her PPL in July 1929 (No.1979) and her Ground Engineer licence the following year. Her notoriety began on 5 May 1930 with a solo flight in Gipsy Moth G-AAAH from Croydon Airport, culminating in Darwin, Australia. The aircraft, which she named Jason, is a permanent resident at London’s Science Museum. Now, many of us may like to tour, but none of us is in the September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 17
Flying Adventure same league as this woman! In July 1931, she made a day trip in Puss Moth G-AAZV, which she called Jason II, with co-pilot Jack Humphreys. Whereas we may manage a ‘Le Touquet lunch’, Amy’s was the 1,760 miles from London to Moscow in 21 hours. And, we are talking no Information Services, no weather forecasting, no radio, no GPS and no help if things went wrong. She also made flights to Japan, South Africa and the USA before the start of the war. In 1940 she naturally joined the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary), ferrying aircraft for the RAF. On 4 January 1941, leaving Prestwick on a ferry flight to RAF Kidlington in an Airspeed Oxford, she spent the night in Blackpool with her sister Molly. The following morning, against advice, she departed Blackpool in poor weather and, since then, there has been much conjecture as to what followed. Had she run out of fuel avoiding bad weather? Was she shot down by friendly fire? Or was she on a secret mission? Whichever, she was spotted parachuting into the Thames Estuary by HMS Haslemere. The Captain, Lt Cmdr Walter Fletcher dived into the freezing water in a rescue attempt but duly succumbed to hypothermia and lost consciousness. Sadly, he died a few days later and Amy was never seen again. Her watertight flying bag, containing her logbook and other personal effects, washed up on the shore and were recovered shortly after. amyjohnsonartstrust.co.uk/her-life/. The airfield at Beverley is at the end of a long track with no public transport links, so expect to call a taxi, although in my experience of Yorkshire folk, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the locals offers you a lift – and stops for a chat and a drink. To help you blend in and arrive in stealth mode, with sayings other than ‘that’ll do’, here are a few colloquial words to get you started with the lingo – chowed at, mafting, siling, nithered and perishin. For a more extended glossary on Yorkshire speak take a look at: marketplace.i-yorkshire.com/yorkshire-sayings/ If you plan to visit both Beverley and Hull, the Northern Line train runs every 30 minutes, taking around 15 minutes or, for a more leisurely journey through the countryside, the 246 bus takes about 40 minutes.
Right Hull Minster dates from the 14th century and miraculously survived the extensive bombing of the city in WWII. 18 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
A bite to eat…
Restaurant prices are moderate but don’t expect hautecuisine. The likelihood is that you’re going to end up going for a curry, as we did last time we were there. The other main choices are basic pub food or one of the many cultural restaurants. Kuchnia was the first Polish Restaurant in Yorkshire, about a 30-minute walk from the centre. 226 Beverley Road, HU5 1AH. 01482 446495 www.kuchnia.co/. The Aegean A popular Greek Taverna, to the west of the city centre. 521-523 Anlaby Road, HU3 6EN. 01482 568866 The Humber Fish Co The restaurant is the exception to the rule, making full use of its location on the fashionable marina and near the town centre. They serve fresh fish in a nice setting, but at a price. Humber Street 01482 326136. humberfishco.co.uk/. Fish & Chips In much of the country, we eat fish and chips covered in salt and vinegar, with maybe even a pickled onion on the side. Many places in the north are known to serve it with mushy peas and gravy. Well, in Hull, you’ll likely be eating it covered in chip spice. Officially known as American Chip Spice, it is nothing to do with America, but a 1970s product from Hull, and the spicy shake is catching on. For those who've never tried it, when in Rome, eh…?
A bed for the night…
Here are several choices, with Leven being close to the airfield and a couple in Beverley. In the other direction, the village of Coniston is about halfway to Hull, but with little else around, and there are three in different price bands in Hull.
Leven
The New Inn is a bar/restaurant with rooms a couple of miles from the airfield and is ideal if you just need a bed for the night, something to eat, or an early start the following morning. 44 South Street, Leven, Beverley, HU17 5NZ. 01964 542223 newinnleven.co.uk/
Flying Adventure
Beverley
Minster Garth Guest House is right in the centre, with rooms for around £50. 2 Keldgate, HU17 8HY. 01482 882402 beverleybedandbreakfast.com/ Best Western Lairgate prices start at around £80 but in many respects are better value for money compared to some of the cheaper places. 30-34 Lairgate, Beverley HU17 8EP 0333 003 4184.
Coniston
The restaurant at The Gardeners Country Inn is in Coniston Village and serves pub-style food, with a roast on Sundays. Double rooms start at around £60, with the nicer ones at about £100 per night. Hull Road Coniston, HU11 5AE. 01964 562625 thegardenerscountryinn.com/
Hull
The Embassy Hotel at around £45 per night is at the budget end, with basic rooms but a few minutes from the centre of town. 367 Hedon Road HU9 1RA. theembassyhotelhull.co.uk/ Ibis Hull City Centre is right in the city centre at the heart of everything, costing around £65 per night. Osbourne Street HU1 2NL. all.accor.com/hotel/3479/index.en.shtml Kingston Theatre Hotel has standard rooms for around £90, but for an extra £30 the Junior suites provide that extra bit of luxury with breakfast included. 1-2 Kingston Square, HU2 8DA. kingstontheatrehotel.com/rooms/
Out and about… Beverley
Beverley is considered the jewel in Hull’s crown with pleasant old buildings, twee shops and insouciant walks. Being close to Hull, it’s where people seem to gravitate as they move up the social scale and get a bit more ‘brass’. Try following the Painting Trail, a collection of 22 paintings by local artists Fred and Mary Elwell dotted around the town. Sights like St Marys Church, Beverley Minster and Market Cross are among the most popular. Market day is on Wednesdays and Saturdays and almost obligatory if you're in town. alifewelltravelled.co.uk/2019/06/12/15things-to-do-in-beverley/. The Westwood Restaurant is a more upmarket restaurant in town whose set menu is good value at £26.95 for three courses, though not available Fridays and Saturdays. New Walk, Beverley HU17 7AE. 01482 881999 https:// www.thewestwood.co.uk/menus
Hull
Hull’s Old Town has a unique atmosphere which is more working Victorian and Coronation Street than Dickensian.
Left Hull’s renowned association with the sea is celebrated in its Maritime Museum. Above right The Streetlife Museum includes everything from horse drawn carriages to aeroplanes, this carrying the registration of 1928 Blackburn F2 Lincock, G-EBVO.
This was thanks to the devastation caused by the Luftwaffe primarily between March and May 1941. Somehow, the 14th century Hull Minster in the centre managed to escape destruction and is open to visitors. hullminster.org/ Museums in Hull are free, so there is no excuse for not indulging in a day of culture, as most are conveniently located close to each other in the museum quarter. Hands-on History Museum is in the Old Town, South Church Side 01482 300 300. Ferens Art Gallery features art and artefacts from the UK and Europe from the 18th century to the present day. Queen Victoria Square, Hull HU1 3RA. 01482 300300 Streetlife Museum is my personal favourite, documenting 200 years of transport history from horse drawn carriages and trams to aircraft, with shops and insight into things as they used to be. High Street HU1 1PS. Wilberforce House Museum is located in the house of the former politician. It is very informative and educational, although the exhibits have undergone changes and alterations. Gone are the shackles the slaves once wore and the graphic images depicting the daily brutality in their lives, from their capture, transportation and eventual demise. Hull and East Riding Museum takes you on an anthropological journey from the Jurassic period through the ages up to the Celts and Romans.hcandl.co.uk/ museums-and-galleries The Deep Aquarium is the largest in the UK, with over 3,000 aquatic species including sharks, rays and turtles. It also provides a bird’s eye view into the prehistoric underwater world, from the darkest depths to crystalclear tropical seas. thedeep.co.uk/ ■
About the author Martin Ferid is a Class Rating Instructor / Revalidation Examiner, specialising in advanced tuition and confidence-building flights in your aircraft throughout Europe and the UK. These adventures can be taken as simple day trips or a few days at a time. A browse through the ‘favourite destinations’ on the website below should inspire tyro and experienced pilots alike. For amusement, try the 'bit of fun' section on the ‘contacts’ tab. Email: lightaircrafttraining@yahoo.com Tel: 07598 880 178 Website: http://www.lightaircrafttraining.co.uk
September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 19
Sunglasses
Shades of concern
Headset review
Ian Fraser takes a polarised position on pilot sunglasses…
T
hat time has come again when we prepare ourselves for that ace of all fly-ins, the LAA Rally. Clean and polish the aircraft, put on that best flying suit but, most important of all, think ‘good weather’. It’s going to be bright and sunny, isn’t it, so make sure we all remember our sunglasses. Not just any shades will do at this trend-setting event, you must have the very latest ‘fashion shades’ – it just wouldn’t do to be seen wearing ‘last year’s model’. The sartorial woke police could be there and, if you’re not careful, that ever-damming picture will go viral online: Last year’s shades, a sad case… But why am I, of all people, writing about sunglasses? My wife will tell you that fashion passed me by half a century ago. Well, there is an interesting technical issue here. Do you mount your tablet or phone in your cockpit in portrait or landscape mode? “Has he gone completely mad,” I hear you mutter, “First shades now tablets – perhaps he has been on the wrong ones!”
But no, it’s actually a serious matter. Picture 1, a state-of-the-art phone in portrait orientation and viewed through a sunglass lens shows a dimmed (they are sunglasses after all) but perfectly readable display. Picture 2 of the same device in landscape mode, and seen through the same sunglass lenses, renders the display completely unreadable. What is happening? Well, many state-of-the-art sunglasses and tablets, phones, navigators or even glass cockpits, use polarised glass in their displays and lenses, and this is the unfortunate consequence. Light naturally ‘vibrates’ and polarised lenses work because they only pass light vibrating in one direction, rejecting the rest. This reduces brightness and glare (glare is often polarised light) and once light has been ‘polarised’ by passing through a screen or lens, it will only pass through material with the same relative polarisation. You may recall that school science test where you place one polarised sunglass lens over another. In one position whatever is behind will be perfectly visible but rotate one lens and the pair will eliminate light transmission altogether. As many modern electronic devices use a polarised display, what you are expecting to see is already polarised, so viewing the display through misaligned polarised glasses, you may see exactly this zero-transmission effect. If both the polarised lenses of the glasses and display are not in the same orientation, the display may be invisible while the rest of the cockpit (not polarised) gadgetry will look normal. Rotate one (glasses or device) to realign them and everything comes back.
Picture 1
Picture 2
20 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Sunglasses Picture 3
Picture 3 and picture 4 illustrate this with cockpit display instruments observed through a polarised sunglass lens. Picture 3 shows all to be perfectly readable but in picture 4, after rotation of the sunglass lens the Autopilot display (but nothing else) vanishes. Similarly, pictures 5 and 6 show the effect on engine instruments and the radio. Although the glasses used for the photographs showed a dramatic effect between portrait and landscape of the map device, as far as I am aware there is no standard for orientation of polarisation in any of the optometry, fashion, phone, or avionics worlds. You take pot luck that the relative polarisation alignments will not obscure your instrument displays viewed through the glasses you buy. Nor can I find any formal regulation or advice from the CAA relating to this phenomenon; while they do discourage the use of polarised glasses (see medical standards) it’s not due to their impact on readability of instruments. So, it’s up to you to be aware of and to avoid this problem. When you visit the pilot supply stands expected to be at the event, before you buy, just check. Do the tablet, phone instruments or other displays you use in the aircraft have a polarised screen, and if so, will those latest optical fashion statements work with it? I wouldn’t like you to get lost on the way home! ■
Picture 4
Picture 5
Picture 6
September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 21
Training
Headset review
Green light for LAA training courses to restart
Brian Hope says let’s work together to expand the range of LAA training courses…
W
hile the function of this article is to look to the future and where I believe we need to go with LAA courses, I have always believed that the best way to proceed is to take a look back at what has been done in the past… and, most important, learn from it. In the years since the Association was started after WWII, the nature of the nation’s industry has changed radically and, from around the 1980s, globalisation has
22 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Above Whether you want to build or maintain an aircraft, LAA Training Courses will hopefully soon be able to once again offer you expert advice.
led to a major decline in our traditional manufacturing base. Combined with the exponential growth of digitalisation, the inevitable result is that the days when a good many of us received basic ‘hands on’ training in wood and/or metal at school, and then went on to apprenticeships in one the ‘mechanical’ industries, are long gone. Today the norm is for a builder, or potential builder, to have minimal knowledge of the skills required to build an aircraft, and probably not have experienced
Training translatable mechanical knowledge via their education or career. Likewise, the larger portion of aircraft owners – purchasers of vintage/classic types or second user homebuilts for example – will also likely have minimal mechanical empathy. There are naturally a number of downsides to this situation, not least that a lack of knowledge undoubtedly dissuades potential builders and owners to take that leap of faith into our exiting and fulfilling world of affordable aircraft ownership.
A very brief history
The LAA Educational Courses came from a discussion by the Executive Committee, later to become the LAA Board, in late 2006 when it was decided that the Association needed to do more to enable members to better understand how to build and/or maintain their aircraft. We have a fabulous cadre of LAA Inspectors who mentor builders and owners on an individual basis, plus many members who have a great wealth of knowledge and expertise. Wouldn’t it be great if we could expand the availability of that knowledge to a wider audience? In 2007, the Executive Committee employed a chap on a part-time basis to organise an LAA Educational Training Course Scheme (ETCS) and raise sponsorship for the LAA Charitable Trust, under which the scheme would run. Six, or maybe nine months and a not inconsiderable amount of money later, we had neither a brass farthing of funding nor a single course organised and, naturally, we parted company and had a rethink. I figured that it really couldn’t be so difficult to pull a few LAA people together to run some courses and was given the OK to give it a try. Although I was confident this was an initiative that would work, I also had a nagging doubt that it could turn out to be something that was really only wanted by a minority of members, so might become financially unsustainable after an initial surge of enthusiasm. From the outset it has always been an aim to ensure that the courses, as a general rule, cover their cost and add something to the pot so that we had funds to expand the scheme – we didn’t want to end up paying rent for a facility for example, but no longer have a demand for courses. So we, a small group of friends and volunteers, renovated at minimum cost, an old Portacabin that had
Above Kevin Dilks’ Rotax engine courses explain how to get the best form the ever popular 9 series engines. Left John Michie helps a participant with his Van’s toolbox, it is very much a ‘hands on’ course.
been dumped over the far side of Turweston aerodrome awaiting scrapping, to use as our training ‘classroom’. If the courses proved to be more than just an itch that needed to be scratched, we would hopefully be able to improve on our facilities as time went on. In November 2008 we held our first course – an Aircraft Metalwork course ran by Gary Smith and John Michie, and very soon after, Dudley Pattison started his Aircraft Woodworking course, using his home workshop near Swindon. Needless to say, the courses have turned out to be in continuing demand, in fact the demand for these and other courses such as Kevin Dilks’ Four-stroke Rotax and Nick Long’s Basic and Advanced Aircraft Wiring courses has often exceeded their availability. We therefore have indeed improved our facilities, buying a much better and larger Portacabin, which we were able to site on the airfield apron and have a permanent electricity supply instead of having to use a generator, and later still acquired a dedicated Training Room in the LAA HQ building.
Restart and growth
Unfortunately, since early last year we have not been able to run any courses due to the pandemic, but we plan to September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 23
Training
restart them early in 2022 and I am delighted to say that our current course tutors are all enthusiastic to once again ‘get up and running’. We are also currently in the early stages of planning to expand the range of subjects. It is regarding these expansion plans that I would like to appeal to our Inspectors and experienced members for help and ideas. Although Turweston is our base, we currently run courses at other locations, such as Duds’ Woodwork course and Chris Thompson’s CAA Radio Operator’s Certificate of Competence (ROCC) course from Popham, so whether you live in Scotland or Cornwall, Northern Ireland or East Anglia, if you think you can help, please get in touch. We don’t expect you to work for free, we pay you to run the course plus your expenses, and also provide the admin. Your ideas, skills, and a desire to pass them on are what we would love to have, and we are not tied to purely engineering subjects either. Some of the ideas we would like to progress are:
How do I get involved in PtF aircraft?
All you need to know about owning and operating a Permit aircraft.
Basic airframe maintenance
Although most aircraft are pretty straightforward machines, thorough inspection and maintenance is vital. For the novice this can be a daunting challenge, so let’s show them how to keep their airframe up to scratch. 24 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Headset review
Above Demonstrating the LAA courses in the early days of Aero Expo.
Basic engine care and maintenance
These courses should cover operational issues and general maintenance: The four-cylinder Continentals The four-cylinder Lycomings The Gipsy Major The four- and six-cylinder Jabiru Two-stroke Rotax
Pre-Permit prep
Too many members arrange for their Inspector to come for an Annual Permit Inspection and do no preparatory work prior to their arrival. Let’s show them how to remove appropriate panels and check, clean, adjust and lubricate as required, so that the Inspector has more time to do what he is really there to do – giving the aircraft a thorough inspection.
Fabric work and spray painting
Fabric repair and spraying are two subjects that many owners face at some stage of build or ownership. They both require a level of skill, but like most other skills, the average man in the street can learn how to do them. The biggest problem is having the facilities to undertake the job, particularly the spraying.
Composite construction
In the mid-1970s the use of composites in the homebuilt movement really started to take hold and it is a medium that can provide for complex forms that are
Training
virtually impossible in most other mediums. Learning how to use composites materials and techniques in order to design and build the ancillary components of wood and metal aircraft such as fairings, spats and cowlings is a useful and interesting exercise.
Magneto check and basic maintenance
Magnetos are considered by many to be old hat, unreliable and something of a black art. Let’s provide a basic check /minor overhaul and timing course. Overhaul kits and required tooling are available for most versions of the Bendix and Slick types used on the majority of ‘traditional’ LAA types, so let’s enable owners to keep abreast of magneto maintenance, ADs and SBs.
Emergency First Aid skills
Aircraft accidents have their own particular issues and there is nothing worse than being faced with the consequences of an accident and not having a clue what to do. Doing the right or wrong thing can have a bearing on whether an injured party survives or not, so a First Aid course targeted toward air accident situations, in particular – major trauma, burns etc – would certainly impart some much-needed knowledge that hopefully we will never be called upon to use.
Type specific days
Allied to the training courses we would also like to organise events where those with a desire to learn
Above It is certainly reassuring to understand how to look after your engine – here a Gipsy Major.
about specific types could attend an informal day’s event where owners of a certain type could discuss the build, if relevant, and ownership in terms of flying, maintenance, performance etc, giving them an insight into the merits and potential ‘gotchas’ of buying and owning such an aircraft. Many types have clubs supporting them, which naturally we would hope would be enthusiastic to become involved.
Getting involved
Getting a series of courses as wide as even those mentioned above sounds ambitious, in fact it is ambitious, but it is by no means impossible. The Association has the desire, there is a requirement, and we have many expert members, Inspectors and industry representatives who I hope will want to become involved. If you have any ideas, questions, offers of help, or even the faintest inkling that this is something that you might be interested in being involved in, please drop me an email at bfjjodel@talktalk.net or call me on 01795 662508 any time, please leave a message if I am not available. Let’s work together to raise the game and provide our members with the knowledge they need to own, maintain and fly their aircraft to the absolute best of their ability. Together we should be able to create a training scheme that the Association cab be proud of. Thank you. ■ September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 25
Coaching Corner
Wake up Coaching to wake Corner… turbulence!
PCS Head of Training David Cockburn warns of wake turbulence repercussions, even from a light aircraft, for aircraft following on…
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n February this year, the CAA issued an Aeronautical Information Circular (AIC), Pink 083/2020, to replace previous ones on the subject of wake turbulence. Many of us probably consider wake turbulence as being something we are aware of but unlikely to experience unless we visit a major aerodrome. However, a recent occurrence report from an aerodrome used frequently by LAA members, reminds us that the vortices generated by one aircraft’s movement through the air can have a serious effect on others. The AIC, and the perhaps more readable SafetySense leaflet 15 Wake Vortex, describes the hazard. If, for example, an aeroplane follows close behind another, especially if flying a little below the first one’s flight path, the turbulence from even a similar-sized aeroplane can cause control problems. As can be experienced when carrying out a tailchase during formation training, if the first aeroplane is manoeuvring, the increase in lift produces a considerable increase in the wingtip vortices. These can provide enough turbulence to send the following aeroplane in a totally different direction to that intended by the pilot, even against full control deflection. However, as the AIC states, they are most hazardous to aircraft with a small wingspan during take-off, initial climb, final approach, and landing phases of flight. In the recent reported occurrence, the apparent producer of a troublesome vortex was a helicopter which had already landed. As the AIC and leaflet describe, helicopters when flying or hovering produce more severe turbulence than comparable sized aeroplanes. Aeroplane pilots can easily forget that a helicopter will frequently hover in position, and often hover-taxi rather than run its wheels along the ground, even though the pilot should be aware that they may be generating a hazard to the rest of us. While hovering, the rotors have to generate enough lift to keep the helicopter airborne, so even when not moving, the vortices from the rotor tips are affecting the surrounding air. The CAA’s Wake Vortex SafetySense leaflet advises light aircraft pilots to avoid a hovering helicopter by a minimum distance of three times the rotor diameter, as does the AIC. The vortices from the passage of an aircraft sink downwards and decay slowly, so flying over the top of a previous aircraft’s flightpath should minimise the risk of being affected. However, a vortex generated close to the ground, such as from an aeroplane taking off or
26 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
a helicopter hovering, cannot sink further but flows out horizontally at an airspeed of about five knots. The wind will then affect the subsequent position of the turbulence, which is why a five knot crosswind is the most dangerous situation for a landing after a previous aircraft. In the reported occurrence, the wind apparently drifted the helicopter’s wake into the path of the affected tug and glider combination as they took off. I recommend we should all re-read this SafetySense leaflet, perhaps especially those of us with short wingspans! It gives a lot of useful advice to reduce potential risk, as do all the leaflets, which are still available on the CAA’s website www.caa.co.uk/publications
Right The effects of wake turbulence, even from a light aircraft, can have dangerous repercussions for a following aircraft. Photo courtesy of the CAA.
Coaching Corner Navigation
In recent issues I have discussed being careful with you navigation because we really do have to up the game in regard to reducing infringements. The CAA recently published an item in Skywise, its online news and alert facility – see Home / SkyWise (caa.co.uk) – which is worth repeating here as there are perhaps too many pilots who rely solely on their moving maps and have no back up in case of failure of the device.
Using a VFR Moving Map?
Summer is with us and we’ve had reports of tablets and mobiles overheating in the cockpit and shutting down, leading to a rise in airspace infringements. We recommend that you have a back-up plan in place that works for you in case you lose your VFR Moving Map in flight. A second electronic device may succumb to the same failure so here are a few tips: ■ Be prepared to orbit/hold in your present position to assess the situation or fly the aeroplane away from controlled airspace before trying any equipment resets. ■ Carry a chart that is marked-up with your route. ■ Carry a printed PLOG. ■ Be aware of turbulence and thermals that add to the challenges of level flight. Are you planning to TAKE 2? Maybe that needs to be increased to more than its suggested two miles horizontal and 200ft vertical separation when possible. ■ Have your radio set to a relevant ATC frequency and call for navigational assistance if you are unsure of your exact location. ATC is there to help. If in doubt call D&D on 121.500 MHZ (callsign London Centre).
Trim… again
In the last issue I warned about incorrect trim settings, especially on take-off. I suggested we try and find, and select, the ideal trim control position required to maintain a safe gliding speed after engine failure for our normal aircraft loading. That control setting will depend on the actual position of our aeroplane’s Centre of Gravity (CofG). While we should all be used to calculating that actual position from our aircraft’s weighing data and a simple load sheet before take-off, I suspect most of us are content to find that the CofG lies within the published limits and leave it at that. However, it is worth remembering that even within these published
Above The moving map is undeniably a wonderful asset to the private pilot but is it wise to rely totally on and electronic device?
limits, the position of the CofG can have an effect on our aircraft’s handling and performance. An aft CofG position (of course still within the allowable range) is likely to reduce an aircraft’s longitudinal stability, but on the plus side it will be easier to manoeuvre. Many sailplane pilots place ballast in the tail to keep the CofG close to the aft limit as they feel that lets them rapidly change attitude to take advantage of the vertical air currents they use for soaring. However, too little stability can mean the aeroplane responds quicker than is comfortable to pitch control inputs. Few pilots want their aircraft to feel ‘twitchy’. A forward CofG position, on the other hand, will increase the aircraft’s stability, typically making it easier to maintain a steady height and heading during the cruise, and possibly less likely to upset passengers in turbulence. The aeroplane though, will be less willing to change its pitch attitude and may need a bit more effort, or at least anticipation, to produce a smooth landing flare or we might find ourselves touching nose first, or ballooning if we over-compensate. I suggest that we could modify the position of our aircraft’s CofG to avoid the undesirable effects of a CofG close to either the fore or aft limit. If you think your aircraft is difficult to flare on landing, you might consider adjusting the load to move the CofG closer to the rear limit and if it seems too eager to jump into the air on take-off, or overpitch in the flare, have you thought about moving the CofG further forward? While the aeroplane should be perfectly safe to fly with a CofG anywhere within the limits, you might be surprised at the difference in handling between the two limiting positions. A further hint that a load adjustment might be useful could be if you ‘run out of’ trim control, perhaps having to hold a forward trim force at threshold speed. And it’s not just handling that can be affected. The designer has probably arranged things so that in the cruise, the elevator or flying tail presents the minimum amount of drag (either profile or induced) to the airflow. If the CofG is close to either limit position, the tailplane/ elevator combination has to generate an additional lift force, up or down, to maintain a longitudinal balance. That additional lift will produce a corresponding induced drag force, which will reduce the speed available at a given power setting, and consequently your range. If you don’t need to improve the aircraft’s handling, it’s probably a good idea to try to keep the CofG close to the middle of the permitted range. So, when we carry out our weight and balance calculations, it may be worth considering the possible effects on our aircraft’s handling and performance, and whether a change in the load might make it easier to handle, or simply be more efficient. A word caution though, always ensure that with the use of fuel, the CofG limit will not move outside of its limits as the flight progresses.
Radio volume
A recent occurrence report concerns a pilot who did not hear any reply to their request to ATC for a clearance. The ATC unit were apparently hearing them loud and clear but were unable to establish communication despite calling the pilot repeatedly. The pilot considers that they had the radio volume turned down and were unaware of that fact. September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 27
Coaching Corner While it may seem obvious that the pilot should check the radio volume before transmitting, I have to admit I’ve been caught out myself when departing from an aerodrome with no radio operator present who could provide a radio check before taxi. Because so many aerodromes now operate with reduced manpower, it is easy to think that the reason you have no reply is that you missed the Notam telling us they were closed. Several modern 8.33 radios only indicate the volume level when the volume control is actually moved, which also adds to the likelihood of the pilot missing the seemingly obvious.
Gyrocopter noise on take-off
According to a recent occurrence report, the pilot of a gyrocopter ‘heard something give way on the departure roll’ and aborted the take-off.
The airfield RFFS retrieved some pieces of metal debris and a bolt. It seems that the strap and bolt holding the exhaust cylinder box had split and sheared off, sending pieces into the rotating engine prop, resulting in damage to all three blades. This incident really does emphasise the importance of always being ready to abort a take-off, and to do it straight away if something doesn’t feel or sound right.
Notams
NATS have announced that sometime in August they will change the format of the Notam section of the AIS web site, so perhaps that will already have happened. In any case, the AIS website page is now apparently www.nats.aero/ais. If you have had problems accessing www.ais.org. uk recently, you may be pleased that they have now told us. ■ Left If the radio goes rather quiet, maybe it is because you forgot to turn the volume back up!
LAA engineering charges LAA Project Registration Kit Built Aircraft £300 Plans Built Aircraft £50 Issue of a Permit to Test Fly Non-LAA approved design only £40 Initial Permit issue Up to 450kg £450 451-999kg £550 1,000kg and above £650 Permit Renewal (can now be paid online via LAA Shop) Up to 450kg £155 451-999kg £200 1,000kg and above £230 Factory-built gyroplanes (all weights) £250 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 28 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Transfer (from C of A to Permit or CAA Permit to LAA Permit) Up to 450kg £150 451 to 999kg £250 1,000kg and above £350 Four-seat aircraft Manufacturer’s/agent’s type acceptance fee £2,000 Project registration royalty £50 Category change Group A to microlight £135 Microlight to Group A £135 Change of G-Registration fee Issue of Permit documents following G-Reg change £45 Replacement Documents Lost, stolen etc (fee is per document) £20 Latest SPARS – No 17 April 2018 PLEASE NOTE: When you’re submitting documents using an A4-sized envelope, a First Class stamp is insufficient postage.
Where to go
S
Where T To oG Go o
adly, the season is already heading towards its end, yet it seems to have only got into its stride a couple of months ago. Three events of particular note to members are, firstly the LAA Rally, on 3/4/5 at Sywell, in case the mag arrives on time – the Post Office have been struggling a bit I think. Then it is the final Meet the LAA Day of the year at Headcorn, courtesy of the Kent Strut, which takes place on 18 September with a fallback of 19, if the weather is poor. It is a
September
3-5 Sywell LAA National Rally & Exhibition [PPR Slots] www.laa.uk.com 3-5 Chatsworth Country Fair incl. Airshow 3-5 Foxlands Farm, Cosby Victory Show 3-5 Weston Park, Shifnal Model Airshow (with some full-size aircraft) 4 Compton Abbas Vintage Saturday Fly-in 4-5 Old Warden Shuttleworth Vintage Weekend & Sunday Airshow AIC M012/2021] 4-5 Leicester BAeA Aerobatics Competition [see AIC Y008/2021] 4-5 Popham STOL Competition 01256-397733 9 Guernsey Guernsey Airshow (incl. Red Arrows) 9 Jersey Jersey Airshow (incl. Red Arrows) 10 Abingdon Threshold Pre-Airshow Dusk Photo-shoot [Pre-book] 10-12 Guernsey Guernsey Rally 11 Bodmin LAA Cornwall Strut Fly-in [PPR] 01752-406660 07805-805679 11 Abingdon Air & Country Show [pre book] 11 Sywell Young Aviators Day 11 White Waltham Fly-in (incl. Navy wings) 11 Teuge (PH) NVAV Barbecue Fly-in [PPR] 11-12 Cosford RAF Airshow (incl. Red Arrows) 11-12 Church Fenton Leeds E RRRA Air Race 11-12 Glenforsa, Mull Vintage Tailwheel Fly-in [PPR] 01680-300377 12 K2 Centre, Crawley Gatwick Air Enthusiasts Fair 01403-252628 12 Figeac (F) RSA Regional Fly-in 17-18 Wycombe Booker Elite Lifestyle & Private Flyer Exhibition 17-19 Goodwood Revival Meeting 18 Barton City FOBA Fly-in [PPR] 0161-789-1362 18 Sutton Meadows Cambs MC Microlight Fly-in 18 Weston-Super-Mare Threshold Helicopter Museum Night Photo-shoot [Pre-book] 29 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
shame that only the Rufforth East Meet the LAA event in July has thus far been able to proceed, earlier planned events having had to be cancelled, so we would be delighted to see you at Headcorn. The other event is the Fly-It Day, Tuesday 26 October, the actual 75th Anniversary of the meeting where the Association was founded. For those unable to fly on that day, the following Sunday, the 31st, serves as an alternative. See page 50 for further details.
18 Chateaubriant (F) RSA Loire Fly-in 18-19 Weston-s-Mare Helicopter Museum Spotters W/e & Memorabilia Sale 18-19 Duxford Battle of Britain Airshow (pre-book) 18-19 Headcorn LAA Kent Strut Fly-in and Meet the LAA Day [PPR] 01622-890226 18-19 Sywell Classic Pistons & Props Show 18-19 Rougham NW Marshalling Team Vintage Fly-in [PPR] 07592-018984 18-19 Old Warden Shuttleworth Model Show – airfield closed [see AIC M012/2021] 19 Halfpenny Green Project Propeller WWII Aircrew Event 21 Swanwick GASCo/Andark Sea Survival Seminar [pre-book] 01634-200203 23 Old Warden Shuttleworth Workshop Tour & Lunch 23-24 Windermere Waterbird Wings Over Windermere Event (incl. Navy Wings) 25 Spanhoe Threshold Day/Night Photo- shoot [pre-book] 25-26 Leicester RRRA Air Race - Kings Cup 25-26 Breighton BAeA Aerobatics Competition [see AIC Y008/2021]
OCTOBER
1-2 Sandown Airport October Fest 01983-716926 2 Old Warden Shuttleworth Race Day Airshow [see AIC M012/2021] 2 Auch (F) RSA Occitanie Fly-in 2-3 Compton Abbas Pooley’s Days Fly-in [PPR pre-register with Pooleys] 2 Old Warden Shuttleworth Vehicle Show – airfield closed [see AIC Y002/2021] 7 Yeovilton Threshold Navy Wings Night Photo-shoot [Pre book]
7-10 Sywell BAeA Aerobatics Adv & Ultd Nationals [see AIC Y008/2021] 9 Duxford Flying Day [see AIC M044/2021] 9 Compton Abbas Vintage Saturday Fly-in 9 St Mawgan Threshold Cornwall Av Museum Photo-shoot [Pre-book] 15-17 Highbaldstow PRBA Splash’n’Dash Training Balloon Meet 17 Coventry Midland Air Museum Enthusiasts’ Fair 24 Sywell Light Aircraft Association Ltd. AGM 26 & 31 Countrywide LAA 75th Anniversary Fly It Day 27 Cosford Threshold RAF Cosford Night Photoshoot [Prebook] 30 St Athan Threshold South Wales Aviation Museum Night Photo-shoot [Pre-book] 31 Turweston Vintage Aircraft Club All Hallows Fly-in & AGM [PPR]
NOVEMBER
3 Yeovilton Threshold FAAM Night Photo-shoot [Pre-book] 6 Compton Abbas Vintage Saturday Fly-in 6 Blackpool Threshold Hangar 42 Spit & Hurri Photo-shoot [Pre-book] 6-20 Stellenbosch (ZS) FAI World Rally Flying Ch’ships 14 Kempton Park Heathrow Aircraft Enthusiasts Fair 14 Breighton Remembrance Sunday Service [PPR] 15-21 Cosford RAF Museum Conservation Centre Open Week [pre-book] 26-27 Cosford Threshold RAFM Night Photo-shoot [Pre-book]
Right It’s been a while, now, where is Sywell exactly?
July 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 33
Engineering
Headset review
Sensational six hundreds! The new 600kg category promises an influx of ready to fly Permit aircraft. By LAA Chief Engineer, Francis Donaldson…
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t last – 600kg is go! But what do the new 600kg rules mean? Basically, it means a new selection of sub-600kg, factory-built sport aircraft can be made available to microlight and light aircraft pilots alike, on a Permit to Fly administered by either the BMAA or LAA, rather than as would previously have been the case, a Certificate of Airworthiness. The raising of the stall speed from 35kt to 45kt will allow aircraft of considerably higher performance than previous microlights. Either a new design, or variant of an existing type, can be certified at a selected weight not exceeding 600kg to the amended BCAR Section S code and, provided the manufacturers can gain the necessary CAA design and manufacturing approvals, it can then be supplied as a factory-built aircraft but qualify for a Permit to Fly. The less onerous Permit to Fly regime offers more
30 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Above One of a breed of high performance types is the 600kg Blackshape Prime. The similar TL Stream is another likely UK candidate.
flexibility on costs and the ability to incorporate many non-certified pieces of equipment that have been developed for use on microlight and amateur-built types over the years, which are often more advanced than equivalents that have not yet ‘made it’ into the certified world. It also means that the machines can be maintained and inspected, and have their Permits to Fly renewed annually by the sporting associations, including the LAA which has a great deal of experience of dealing with aircraft in this class, and have done for many years – in fact, LAA has held an approval to do just this continuously since 1948. What it doesn’t mean is that an existing 450kg microlight can be suddenly re-classified as a 600kg aeroplane and flown at higher weights. An aircraft that’s been properly designed for 450kg would be desperately overloaded with an extra 150kg of payload – that’s like adding the weight of two extra people, after all – not to mention the question of where
Engineering experimenting in this field, but 600kg gives industry the opportunity to move forward in this area. Its true that an aircraft that’s to be cleared at 600kg is going to need a stronger airframe than a 450kg equivalent, and the beefing up of the airframe will eat into the 150kg increment to some degree, but even with the power density of today’s batteries, an extra 100kg or so available for battery weight will make a big difference to the potential range and endurance of such a craft. the CofG might end up if the aircraft was overloaded in that way. For an existing aircraft presently cleared at 450kg gross weight (or that has been allowed the option of being cleared at 472.5kg when equipped with a ballistic parachute), the new rules allow the possibility of the design of the aircraft being re-examined to determine whether it would be possible to clear it at a slightly increased weight, taking advantage of the newly extended scope of this class of aircraft. This would include needing to make strength calculations, possibly undercarriage ‘drop tests’, flight tests, changes to the pilot’s operating handbook, and changes to the operating speeds, placards and instrument markings etc. Altogether, this would not be an exercise likely to be within the scope of a single owner, but rather, something that would be carried out by the type design organisation, if it still exists, or, if it doesn’t through one of the several engineering consultants who advertise their services in this field. This could be financed by an interested group of owners for example. Having said that, the exercise of re-stressing an aircraft for a higher weight is no small undertaking and probably not financially viable unless it was to benefit a whole fleet of aircraft rather than a single example. Another interesting by-product of the new 600kg rule is the creation of a category of regulated single seat microlight with a gross weight (more than 300kg, but not exceeding 600kg) and/or stall speed (more than 35kt, but not exceeding 45kt) that precludes it from the present deregulated SSDR category. Because a single-seater falling into this bracket would save the weight of a crew member over its two-seat counterpart, it could have a seriously large engine – bearing in mind that the new rules impose a 45kt stall speed limit but there’s no top limit on how fast an aircraft can go in this category! One can picture something very racy indeed that features a fairly small wing and double slotted flaps, slots and so on to achieve the 45kt landing speed. Twin engines, anybody? There’s no restriction on the number of engines, or of the type of powerplant – a small jet, perhaps? Which brings us to another very significant benefit of the new class of aircraft, being that it would allow scope for the likely weight of batteries for a two-seat electric powered aircraft, be it all-electric or hybrid, or enough payload for experimenting with other types of powerplant. With the Government’s pledges for carbon neutrality in not that many years’ time, it seems inevitable that flyers will be under pressure to develop alternatives to the good old Otto cycle, and future generations won’t necessarily have the power-to-weight ratio that we’re enjoying in our present fleet. The 450kg limit didn’t allow any weight margin for
Top The earlier Tecnam Echo has been succeeded by the 600kg P92 Echo 11, a possible candidate for the UK market. Above middle Long-established FK Aviation has a range of aircraft including the FK14 Polaris, which boasts a cruise speed of 140mph on a 912S. Above The Swedish Blackwing 635RG certainly made waves at AERO 2019 with its stated cruise speed of 185kt at FL75 on the 915is… and 38kt stall speed.
Some history
The changes announced by the CAA are the culmination of many months of work that have taken place jointly by experts from the LAA, BMAA, CAA and industry. This began with the announcement by EASA in 2017 of their intention to offer the possibility of countries ‘opting out’ of EASA regulation for aeroplanes with a stall speed of less than 45kt in the power off landing configuration, and a maximum gross weight not exceeding 600kg. Ironically of course, the CAA’s decision to opt out, which followed an overwhelmingly positive response to its public consultation on the subject, was then overshadowed by the UK coming out of EASA, subsequent to Brexit. Importantly however, most other EASA-participating countries also voted to opt out of EASA controlling their aeroplanes in this class, including Germany and the Czech Republic which are the main sources of sport aircraft in this weight bracket. In some ways this is a shame, because it marks an admission of failure of EASA’s intent to apply uniform standards for small aircraft design and manufacture across Europe, which it had been hoped would allow aircraft in this class to move freely from one country to another and to be bought, sold, owned and operated anywhere within Europe without any cross-border impediments, or the need for manufacturers to go September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 31
Engineering through a whole lot of extra paperwork just to make a few extra sales in a new marketplace. Unfortunately, with hindsight, the rule-set that EASA put in place was too onerous and certification under the EASA rules was too expensive. Most manufacturers found they were better off making their aircraft as ultralights within the 450kg definition under national rules. The few who did try the EASA certified route generally got their fingers burnt, and never saw a worthwhile return on the considerable investment that this involved. The problem with making aircraft to sell in the 450kg ultralight category was that it was (and is) limiting in terms of what payload the aircraft can carry. Even with the most efficient weight-saving on the airframe, a two-seater with one of the state of the art four stroke engines by Rotax, Jabiru or UL-Power was inevitably restricted in the amount of fuel it could carry while keeping within the 450kg limit. Many struggled even to meet the minimum requirement to be able to carry two people of 86kg plus enough fuel for an hour’s cruise flight, and you could only legally fill the tanks or load any significant amount of baggage onboard when flown solo. Forced to choose between either flying overweight or risking running out of fuel before reaching their destination, perhaps not surprisingly many pilots preferred to risk a ticking off from the authorities than ending up in a field. Over time, ultralight aircraft have steadily grown more sophisticated, and while modern avionics is undoubtedly lighter than the older variety, any savings in that area have usually been overshadowed by the weight of more powerful engines, retractable undercarriages, variable pitch propellers and other features that would have been out of the question just a few years ago in this class of machine. The empty weights of so-called ultralights on show at AERO Friedrichshafen and similar events grew to levels where it was frankly ridiculous to pretend that they were practical to operate as two seaters within their weight category. The industry clearly needed to be able to sell aircraft that could operate at a higher weight – say, 600kg – without having to jump through EASA’s expensive hoops, ideally using the tried and tested certification arrangements already in place in their own countries. Happily, however, there is also work underway to try to ‘level up’ design standards for this class of machine between the UK, Germany and the Czech Republic and so achieve a degree of mutual acceptance in the new 600Kg category, but this is slow in coming. In parallel with the work on the 600kg class definition, as announced by the CAA in August this year, a revision to BCAR Section S has also been in process which has removed, wherever possible, the arbitrary differences between the UK, Czech and German design codes and left as few ‘national differences’ as possible that would have to be tackled in re-certifying a machine in any of the three countries.
So, what does it mean to members?
Probably the first thing we’ll see is existing UK-based microlight manufacturers coming up with new, heavier variants of their existing types just as soon as the CAA release the amended BCAR Section S – or even 32 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Headset review Right Dragon Aviation’s 600kg Aeroprakt A32 is already a popular kit and plans are afoot to bring it in ready-built. A 600kg Super Sport A22 Foxbat is also available.
before if the manufacturers choose to use a higherlevel code that already exists, such as CS-VLA. Then, we’ll see new manufacturers – including some who are already familiar to us as kit manufacturers – applying to the CAA for A8-1 approval of their facilities to design and manufacture, and approval of their designs as compliant with the revised BCAR Section S design code requirements. The CAA folk at Gatwick have been working on this project for some time now and want to see good come out of it as much as we do, so we hope that with the help of the Associations, manufacturers will be able to get up and running in short order. Hopefully it’ll be possible to provide some recognition of what regulatory hoops existing designs from abroad have already ‘jumped through’, while also ensuring a level playing field with UK-based manufacturers waving the flag for Team GB. The rule changes won’t have any immediate impact on the existing LAA fleet of aircraft, or on building new aircraft of existing types, which will continue to operate under their existing classifications. Reclassifying an existing kitplane SEP type as a 600kg category aircraft would mean going through a reapproval exercise against the new version of BCAR Section S, or other suitable code. In some cases this might be quite straightforward, in others well-nigh impossible – it just depends on what basis the type has been cleared up to this point. There’s no intention to re-classify vintage types as 600kg machines, even if their weight and stall speed fall into the definition – the 600kg class is aimed at modern machines cleared against modern design codes, which will inevitably be very different to those which the vintage fleet were certified to. There’s also no capability of transferring an aircraft that’s already been certified by EASA into the national 600kg category – it’s baked into the rules that such aircraft would continue as ‘Part 21’ CofA machines. Manufacturers of EASA type-approved types could of course, build a non-certified version of an EASA certified type, and release it on the market for operation on a 600kg national Permit to Fly, but they would need to get their manufacturing approvals and design approvals separately through the CAA. The changes to regulations relating to the microlight definition came into law on 19 August this year, so expect to see the first of the new class of machine doing the rounds ‘at a fly-in near you’ in the coming months. In next month’s magazine we’ll discuss the changes to Section S that are being finalised, and some of the contenders in this new class.
Engineering
Watch out! E10 unleaded fuel is here… NOW
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By Francis Donaldson
ue to the political pressures encouraging the use of biofuels, the government is pushing for greater use of ethanol in petrol, and has mandated that from 1 September all regular grade unleaded petrol will contain up to 10% ethanol, rather than up to 5% as previously. In the last few weeks, filling stations around the UK have been re-marking their E5 petrol pumps to show that they now supply E10 specification fuel and receiving tanker-loads blended with up to 10 percent ethanol content. For the automotive world, this means reduced carbon dioxide emissions, which is better for the environment and, arguably in terms of ecodesirability, a small further reduction in the reliance on fossil fuel. The automotive industry has been preparing for this change, and if all goes as planned, people with vehicles registered after 2002 should be able to switch to E10 without noticing any difference.
already aware that many of these engines are supplied as being able to use E10 fuel – though with Jabiru engines in particular, it’s far from straightforward because some of the earlier engines require cylinder head modifications and reduced compression ratio if they are to avoid detonation issues when using any form of mogas. Jabiru also says that mogas of any type should not be used by Australian commercial flight schools, and only at the owners own risk. Even with a supposedly E10-compatible engine, the chemical compatibility problems with fuel system components are such that the LAA does not at present approve the use of E10 mogas in any LAA amateur-built or vintage aircraft. For factory-built microlights and factory-built gyroplanes, where LAA is
A challenge
The additional ethanol content is bad news for aviation users though, were we to ignore the change and start putting E10 in our aircraft regardless. Ethanol is a powerful chemical solvent which can attack components, including rubberised gaskets and fuel pipes, older lacquered carburettor floats and composite or plastic components in some newer fuel systems. The doubling of the concentration of ethanol in E10 makes it much more likely that problems will be experienced if these parts are not designed to be ethanol-proof. Ethanol also has an affinity for absorbing water, which over time can then become acidic, attacking metal components in the fuel system and engine. Even if there was a practical way to do so in the volumes of fuel we use in our aircraft, we cannot safely remove the ethanol content from the fuel because it acts as an octane enhancer, so the washed-out fuel would be left with a reduced octane value, likely to cause detonation problems. Another issue is that ethanol-blended fuel has a lower energy density than petrol, so to develop full power from our engines using an E10 fuel, we may need to richen the fuel/air mixture, for example using a bigger carburettor jet size. Owners of Rotax and Jabiru engines are probably
Right Always use the recommended test for ethanol when using mogas. September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 33
Engineering not the approving authority but only renews the CAA’s Permit to Fly, owners need to refer to the TADS for their type for details of the approved fuel types, and monitor the service bulletins from the approved manufacturers for news of any updates.
Headset review
Fortunately, for the time being at least, for mogas users there’s a potential alternative option in the form of Super Unleaded fuels. Super Unleaded fuel supplied by garage forecourts is NOT necessarily ethanol-free, but its ethanol content will be capped at a maximum of 5%. There’s currently no legal requirement for ethanol to be present in super unleaded petrol, and in fact quite a few members have reported that their tests have shown Super Unleaded fuel to be completely ethanol-free in their areas. Esso reports that “Synergy Supreme+ 99 is actually ethanol free (‘except, due to technical supply reasons, in Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, North England and Scotland’). Legislation requires us to place E5 labels on pumps that dispense unleaded petrol with ‘up to 5% ethanol’, including those that contain no ethanol, which is why we display them on our Synergy Supreme+ 99 pumps.” Shell, BP, Tesco and other fuel suppliers don’t commit to such detail, merely stating their fuels ‘may contain up to 5% ethanol’.
leave to the fuel supplier the choice of how to blend the fuel to achieve the described properties. In some cases, it’s the relatively small amounts of additives that cause compatibility issues, rather than the main components of the fuel – and the mix of additives may vary from one batch to the next. So, for example, the fuel specification EN228 allows suppliers the choice of achieving a 95 RON octane rating using a better or worse ‘cut’ of petroleum-based hydrocarbons, requiring respectively a lesser or greater quantity of octane-enhancing additives made up of oxygenates including methanol, ethanol and others to achieve the necessary detonation resistance. The government’s push for greater use of ethanol in petrol involves quotas for fuel companies to use increasing proportions of ethanol in their products, or be fined for failing to meet their quotas. Depending on the changing prices of ethanol in relation to other octane enhancers on the world market, at certain times fuel companies have found it financially advantageous to underachieve on their ethanol targets and pay the fines, rather than pay a high price for ethanol, leading to periods where fuel supplied as E5 petrol (up to 5% ethanol) actually had no ethanol in it at all. More recently however, with the ramping-up of the quota system to ever more ambitious levels, it has been more and more difficult to find ethanol-free E5 unleaded fuel on garage forecourts.
UL91 avgas
Ever changing fuel blends
A possible solution – 97 Super Unleaded
For most aircraft engines, UL91 avgas remains the ideal fuel in that it is a tightly controlled aviation-grade fuel of a guaranteed composition, blended for long-term stability and optimal volatility for aviation use. As it is in effect the familiar 100LL avgas but supplied without its tetraethyl lead, any fuel system designed for 100LL avgas will be unaffected by using UL91 fuel or, if circumstances demand, by a mix of 100LL and UL91. Despite a pervasive misconception, UL91 fuel is NOT mogas and suffers from none of the issues associated with mogas use in aircraft. A list of engines suitable for use with UL91 fuel can be downloaded from the ‘Operating and maintaining an LAA Aircraft’ page of the LAA’s new website. Moves are afoot to increase the number of airfields supplying UL91 fuel, with full LAA backing.
Mogas woes
Of course, many LAA members have been using mogas of one sort or another for many years. For many airstrip users, the prospect of having to go to an airfield to fill up with Avgas would seem at best very off-putting, and at worst totally impractical for their style of operation. Hopefully Super Unleaded will continue to be an option using the LAA’s E5 procedure. Where 97 octane E5 super unleaded can be found that’s ethanol-free, it can be used in the broader range of LAA aircraft with engines eligible for use with E0 unleaded fuel. But it is important that mogas users take on board the fact that unlike with aviation fuels, automotive fuel specifications generally only describe the properties of the fuel blend, in terms of octane rating and other characteristics, they don’t specify the chemical make-up of the fuel. Apart from specifying broad maxima and minima for those components that the powers-that-be wish to either encourage or discourage, the specifications 34 | LIGHT AVIATION | September2021
The consequence is that with mogas of any type, what you get from the pump one week may be different to what you got the week before. The fact that your fuel system pump diaphragms, seals, composite tanks and so on might have been unaffected by mogas up till now does not guarantee that they will be OK with the blend that the next tanker-load brings to your garage forecourt. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this, and the only way to mitigate this problem is by constant vigilance, and thoughtful adaptation of your maintenance schedule to check for signs of problems developing before they create a safety issue – more frequent checking of filters, changing of fuel lines etc. Things to watch out for include swelling of rubber components like diaphragms, fuel valve seals and O-rings, fuel pipes hardening or developing surface cracks, and fuel tank sealants wrinkling or detaching from the internal surfaces of fuel tanks. Varnishes on cork floats may go gummy, or plastic carburettor floats absorb fuel and lose buoyancy, causing a rich mixture and rough running. Also, watch out for discolouration of the fuel you take out as fuel samples, which may imply something dissolving somewhere in the system, and for corrosion in the bases of your carb float bowls and gascolator. Avoid letting mogas go stale in your fuel system – drain it out before a long period of disuse. But don’t leave the tanks empty for a long period – better to fill them with avgas which will reduce condensation and also, particularly with plastic tanks, prevent the tank’s internals drying out which can cause problems with shrinkage, and in extreme cases, the tanks splitting open. Likewise O-rings and other rubber parts are best kept submerged in fuel continuously.
Avoid long-term storage
We’ve seen cases where composite aircraft skins have rippled, apparently due to exposure to the
Engineering vapours created by the break-down products in stale mogas after being left unattended over a single winter. Mogas is blended with the expectation that in a car it will be used within a few weeks of being supplied, so it doesn’t need to be as stable over a long period of time as an aviation fuel. If a composite or plastic fuel tank is built into your aircraft, and if you are tempted to depart from best practice, consider carefully the risk of having to replace the tank should it deteriorate with mogas exposure, with all that implies. With an integral tank in a wet-wing Jabiru, the answer should be certainly not – a new pair of wings would likely write-off the aircraft. Even with the embedded polyethylene fuel tank in a Europa’s fuselage, changing the fuel tank is not an operation for the faint-hearted, involving cutting out quite large parts of the fibreglass cockpit module to release the tank, and then scarfing them back again afterwards, in-situ. The Europa kit was first produced in the era of four-star mogas, a very different blend to what we find at the pumps today.
The future
For the foreseeable future the demand for fuels for pre-2002 registered cars is likely to give us continued access to Super Unleaded 97 octane E5 fuel on garage forecourts. In the longer term, we have been working with fuel suppliers and the DfT and hope to see wider access to UL91 avgas at airfields and airstrips. For owners of LAA aircraft with E10 eligible engines, a procedure for approving E10’s compatibility with aircraft fuel systems will be provided in due course. This will inevitably be more straightforward with aircraft of recent manufacture supplied with E10-compatible components than it will be for a vintage aircraft, or homebuilts where the fuel system components most likely differ from one example to the next, and are quite likely of an unknown specification. Ethanol-proof rubber hoses are available. In particular SAE J30/R9 or the European equivalent DIN 7339 D3 are automotive hose standards that are widely available from auto factors. The SAE spec J30/R14 is a lower pressure, more pliable version for carburettor systems. These should be used in preference to the older SAEJ30/R6 standard hose which is more permeable to fuel vapour and will harden and crack more rapidly, particularly using fuel containing ethanol. Watch out for cheap imitations – the real McCoy should come from a reputable manufacturer, be marked with the SAE number along its length, and will likely cost at least £10 a metre. Paul Hendry-Smith, MD of TLAC at Little Snoring, the company factory-building the Sherwood Ranger, Scout and Kub, as well as supplying the Ikarus C42, advises that he is currently adapting their range of aircraft to make them E10 compatible, including, for the Ranger, a new aluminium main fuel tank to replace the fibreglass originals. He’s concerned by reports that fuel suppliers sometimes use car petrol as a means of getting rid of unwanted chemicals – for example one supplier apparently stands accused of blending impure methanol and xylene into the fuel, which Paul describes as ‘a great mix for paint stripper’.
This eliminates the costs of safely disposing of otherwise non-saleable (impure) product and allows car owners to burn it and use their catalytic converters for the job. This is certainly happening within some EU Member states. Paul also reports on one Sherwood Ranger’s fuel tank degrading with mogas fuel, despite being made from an ethanol proof resin – those undefined other additives in the fuel presumably being responsible.
What can we do to help the situation?
It may be that off-the-shelf drop-in-the-tank additives can be used to mitigate some of the problems with E10 fuel, in particular stabilisers and anti-corrosion products, just as they are routinely in the marine and race-car world. Not knowing what’s in them, I’d steer clear of any additives that claim to boost the fuel’s octane. Definitely avoid additives that claim to actively enhance an engine’s power or fuel economy (other than just to restore proper performance by giving the carburettor jets and orifices an occasional clean-up) which like those ‘powerful rare-earth magnets you can install alongside the fuel line’ are the preserve of the snake oil salesmen, often with offerings seemingly aimed at flat-earthers or enthusiasts of perpetual motion. Where we need to be particularly careful in reading-across from (hopefully) a trouble-free transition to E10 in automotive use is the difference between our petrol cars and the way our aircraft engines are configured. Our cars generally have submerged fuel pumps in their petrol tanks and a sealed fuel system. In our aircraft we have an open-vented tank and usually a fuel pump several feet away, often mounted in a hot area of the engine bay near to the engine exhaust, dragging the fuel through a fairly convoluted pipework system, a filter and fuel selector – all features encouraging a vapour lock – and then to make matters worse, we want to climb up to altitude and operate in reduced atmospheric pressure. Our modern car will have a fuel injection system rather than carburettors, a circulating fuel system designed to purge any vapour forming in the fuel line, and an ECU that monitors the engine’s parameters constantly and adjusts the fuel mixture strength and ignition timing to prevent damage to the engine – and if all else fails and the engine should ‘pink’, we can hear it from the driver’s seat and drop down a gear to lighten the load. Because of the much higher background noise level in our aircraft, detonation cannot be heard, and the pilot’s first indication of a problem may be when the first piston crown disintegrates, or a valve head departs its stem. In conclusion – E10 is now not only coming, it’s here, and it is presently not recommended nor approved for use in LAA aircraft. ‘Hoping for the best’ and using E10 fuel in your aircraft regardless could risk ruining the fuel system components, fibreglass tanks falling to bits, engine failure through contamination of the fuel or ruptured fuel pump diaphragms etc, or more serious engine damage. For most of our engines, UL91 Avgas is the best choice, but 97 octane E5 Super Unleaded remains an alternative to the now-obsolete E5 spec mogas. ■ September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 35
Flight Test
Vive la difference!
Clive Davidson flies the amusingly quirky Nord NC856A Norvigie 1950s French Army observation aircraft… Pictures: Neil Wilson 36 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Flight Test
T
he subject of this month’s flight test is a Nord NC856A Norvigie, a characterful tenth iteration of no less than 15 variations of the marque. The type was developed in the late 1940s as an entry in the same competition that was won by the SIPA S90, and which the Jodel D11 that was also entered. The competition was launched by SALS – Service de l’Aviation Légère et Sportive, a DGAC (French CAA) sponsored organisation, which was formed in 1946 to encourage the growth of flying clubs and the availability of French designs for their use. The manufacturer, SNCAC, Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Centre, at Bourges (which became Nord Aviation in 1954), developed the prototype NC850 from its unsuccessful 1946 NC840, a four-seat tricycle machine powered by a 140hp (104 kW) Renault 4Pei engine, which did not go into production. The prototype NC850 had a single fin and rudder, was a two-seater and was powered by a 100hp (75 kW) Mathis G4F engine and flew in April 1947. The type finished second in the competition and, like the SIPA, received a government order for 100 aircraft. The production version became the 75hp (52 kW) Minié 4. DA.28 powered NC853, which featured the twin fin and rudder tail that became synonymous with the type, and here in the UK we have a number of 65hp Continental converted examples, which are designated as NC854S. The idea of placing the fins and rudders out in free air, with near double the area of the standard tail set, removes most of the slipstream’s rotational force, making for less required response from a lazy-footed pilot. This twin fin on a single prop driven airframe is not very common and although SNCAC’s idea is pretty distinctive among single engine airframes, it is not unique. The pre-war Swiss C3603 fighter bomber used this set-up, and it was used for the 1950s French Armée de l’Air communications Broussard. Very few others followed this concept, however, the reason for such isolated use may perhaps be laid at the door of it being more expensive to construct and its negative impact on ground handling. Which brings us to our flight test aircraft, Richard Ellingworth’s NC856A Norvigie, G-CGWR, which is unique in the UK. The Norvigie is a highly modified variant of the NC850 series carried out in 1951, specifically as an observation aircraft for the French Army, which went on to take delivery of 112 examples. It features a longer rear fuselage to accommodate a third occupant, extensive cockpit glazing and a more powerful engine, the 140hp (104 kW) inverted inline four-cylinder Regnier 4LO-4. Some idea of the ‘growth’ of the design can be garnered from the fact that the max all up weight was increased from the typical 1345lb / 610kg of the NC854S to the Norvigie’s 2436lb /1,105kg.
Above The Norvigie definitely has a bucket load of Je ne sais quoi!
A trip to Spanhoe
Richard’s aircraft is based at Spanhoe, where it has recently received a sprucing up of it’s external condition by
Rebecca Tiers, under the auspices of her father Carl’s company, Windmill Aviation. We flew up to Spanhoe with David Frasier in his Piper Pacer and the Norvigie, serial number 54 built in 1955, was already sitting out on the grass waiting for us. It would have been rude to have assumed that Richard wouldn’t have minded us crawling all over her, so I walked around her, in ever smaller circles, being reeled in. With a 40ft wingspan and an obvious presence, her military unit and national markings on a khaki green camouflage base sets her apart from our normal civilian fare. The khaki is complemented by the contrasting forward to aft blue, white and red (even the way this is spoken is in reverse) of the rudders’ display of France’s national insignia. But then again, to differentiate between French and British Allied machines during WWI, the roundels and rudder flashes alternated for this distinction. She seemed to have so many obvious external aerodynamic oddities that it wasn’t long before I was leaning over the tailplane taking a closer look at her. I have to admit to expecting a few contrasting features to the norm as having read of aircraft produced in France, principally before and during WWII, the standard French operation of the throttle worked in reverse to the world’s, now uniform, agreement. To reduce power both you and I would pull the throttle back, and to open the throttle and increase power we would ease the throttle forward. However, the early French machines reduced power by easing the throttle forward and increased power, ‘pouring the sauce’ as Capt W E Johns might have said, by bringing the throttle fully back. You just cannot believe it, can you?
Interesting features
The aircraft has elevator mass balances supported by huge, slightly S shaped rods leaning far forward quite high over the tailplane, a sort of cosh shaped head of a sea serpent rising from the waves. The elevator also has trimmers on its extremities, as do both rudder trailing edges. The rudders are of a generous size and the trimmers have their lower edge clipped at an angle so that a fully up elevator is not snagged. The wings are slightly swept forward and true to this breed’s form, shoulder mounted, so sitting forward of the wing gives an excellent field of view. The inboard trailing edge has generously sized five position flaps, operated by a high and centrally mounted handbrake style lever with a squeeze up ‘trigger’ locking mechanism to unlock and locate the flap lever to its next slot. The first notch of flap sees the stalling speed reduced from 55kt clean to 53, second stage to 45kt, third to 42, but there is now an imposed operational restriction of not being able to use the last two stages. Would you credit that, under test conditions, the last stage of flap induced a slightly higher stall speed of 45kt? When Dan Griffith, the LAA test pilot, flew the aircraft and noted the rather ineffective last two stages of flap, he surmised that the steeper approach angle afforded by their use may have been a military requirement to help limit the time the aircraft September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 37
Flight Test
Above The ailerons are heavy, but this aeroplane is stable and handles very predictably. Left The ‘double decker’ ailerons with flaps deployed. Note also the enormous spades to help flap deployment. Below The twin fins and aerodynamically balanced rudders, note the enormous ‘sea serpent’ elevator mass balances.
38 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Flight Test might be vulnerable to small arms fire, but commented that rapid speed drop off in the flair was a serious issue. The pull down force on the lever whilst on the ground is much like an Auster, of no real strain, and broad flat ‘spades’ have been mounted outboard from the fuselage and forward of the flap hinges to counterbalance the force required to lower the flap when airborne. It works well and of course being flat plates presented to the oncoming air, the spades act as speed brakes as well.
diameter Legere EF.10A wooden propeller that is inflight adjustable by an instrument panel mounted rotating car-type window winder, probably purloined from a Citroën, Simca or Renault (which were going through their own government directed construction from 1946). Wind the white triangular indicator to the right with a clockwise action and the prop coarsens from 23.30° to 30° for an efficient cruise, and backwards to fine pitch for better take-off at 15° to 30°. The prop extension and the blue spinner gives the aircraft quite a prominent nose, a rather apt caricature of the French President at the time of its inception – General Charles de Gaulle.
‘Double-decker’ ailerons
If you took only a cursory look at the ailerons, there appears to be a number of mass balances hanging down to prevent our old enemy, flutter. However, you will have missed a quirk that is so unusual, go back and look, it has ‘doubled up’ ailerons. The ailerons run from the flap edge to the curve of the wingtip and are ‘spooned’ on top of each other. Going into the cockpit and lowering the flaps sees the underside portion of the aileron droop as well as the flap. This is no doubt to improve low speed handling, the same angle aligning the flaps and lower half of the aileron together. Sideways movement of the stick for roll has the ailerons react in the normal and expected manner. But how effective might this be, I would soon find out I am very sure. To help reduce the force for deflecting the ailerons, the lower set have servo tabs.
The cockpit
Power plant
The SNECMA Regnier 4LO4 engine of 6.3 litres produces its max continuous power of 135hp at 2,280rpm. with a consumption of 36.3 litres an hour. At take-off 2,340rpm may be expected with 140hp. It drives a two-metre
Below Low and slow, as it may well have spent much of its service career.
The cockpit area is extensively glazed, revealing its exposed metal tubed construction – the wing incidentally is of skeletal metal construction, and like the fuselage, is fabric covered. There are two front seats and a single rear, and two front doors that open forward. The rear seat has ‘floor to ceiling’ and overhead perspex too – it’s single door on the port side folds down for entrance and exit. Both the P1, front left seat, and the rear seat have rigid backs, but the right-hand seat, soon to be occupied by me, fortunately has a firm base, but unfortunately a deck chair canvas back, which is not so good for posture. I assume this is so the rear occupant might exit through the right-hand front door in an emergency should the left fuselage be blocked or damaged. There are full harnesses to secure the crew. The 120-litre fuel tank is just behind and below the front seat and its yellow colour filler and neck is located by the port-side rear door filler. Its usable amount is 110 litres, and the maximum oil tank capacity is 15 litres but there should be an ullage space of two litres. The minimum level is six
September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 39
Flight Test litres, while normal is around the 10-litre mark. The oil used is a mineral detergent and being the warmer season, 100 rather than 80 was in use.
Unfamiliar environs
Above The cockpit certainly has an old style military feel. Not fuel filler to single tank behind strut. Left This view forward from the rear seat superbly illustrates the enormity of the perspex transparencies. Below A side view with the rear seat passenger’s door hinged down.
40 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Seated, but not strapped in, it was certainly worth taking time to spot all of the necessary controls, levers and instruments soon to be called upon – progressing from the known and then trying to decipher the unknown. The stick could be circled all around the box without any restrictions and showed no signs of slackness or play. The flap lever and its locking trigger could be reached above my left shoulder and activated without fuss, and the rudder pedals could be easily moved back and forth but, dipping my head down into the well regretfully confirmed I had no toe brakes on my side. A shame, as I wouldn’t be able to gauge ground handling, other than allowing the castoring tailwheel it’s freedom to wander where it might wish. The usual directional control of deflecting a rudder with a blast of propwash would be useless, as already mentioned it misses both rudders. The elevator trimmer is on the left of the panel, a vertical sliding lever – slide up for nose up, and down to for nose down. This left-hand panel also houses the already mentioned winder for prop pitch, the fuel pressure gauge, an rpm dial and an obviously more recent boost gauge because it measures manifold pressure in inches. Adjacent is a vertical placard of recommended manifold pressure settings for height in thousands of feet with a prop set for cruise at 2,180rpm. The centre section of the panel has the standard six instruments and a small Becker 8.33 above the artificial horizon – and the ASI is in knots and not in kms as I was expecting. Its white flap arc, allowing for my offset angle, displays a stalling speed of 40kt and a limiting upper speed of 76kt. The green arc for normal operation extends to 120kt and there is a brief cautionary orange range of a further five knots before the red line continues up to 140kt.
Flight Test Shifting my gaze directly beneath this central panel to the supporting lip, there are a lot of French labels, all helpfully indicating each switch and lever. The yellow colour coded ‘essence’ fuel knob is pulled back for on, the fuel pump flicked to the right for pressure. Fortunately, there are orange, green and red bands painted on the outer edge of the fuel pressure gauge dial, although the pressure is measured in ‘pz’. A little research later led me to discover that it is a metric measurement also once used by the Soviets, although it was dropped in the mid-1950s. Its full name is piezes (which I am tempted to pronounce as ‘pizzas’) and fortunately conversion from pzs to our more familiar mbs is by simply multiplying by 10, hence the international standard atmosphere, for example, is 101.3pz or 1013 mb – or hectopascals to use the current idiom. Underneath the centrally mounted black knobbed throttle are the mag’ switches, actually a pair of side by side up and down sliders. Again, this type is new to me, but they are similar to examples fitted to the Jungmann except their sliders are keys and may be taken out of their slide and then left hanging on their lightweight chains. Up is ‘ON’, and the push to start button is directly to the left of the throttle, all conveniently sited and well thought out. And finally, the right-hand panel has the vacuum gauge, a newly installed CHT, a clock with a tiny inset second hand and, rather surprisingly, a G meter (with a limiting red band from 2.85G).
16hpz, and then switched off; mag switches are slid in and up for ON, two full pumps on the throttle then crack it open 1cm, a shout of ‘clear prop’ and pull the starter lever back. She fires and settles at a tad under 1,000rpm, and the oil pressure gauge shows it is flowing above the minimum of 2.5pz. We sit and wait for her to warm up. The power check is conducted at 1,800rpm, and we wind back and forth two pitch changes. Richard confides that the prop pitch doesn’t, in reality, make a great deal of difference! The acceptable mag drop is a difference of 50rpm. Carburettor ‘frosting’ (the check list’s charming translation) is checked, and tick over rpm restored. Idle is fine, so back to 1,000.
Taxy, take-off and climb
Prep, then start
The propeller is first set in low pitch by winding the ‘car window winder’ clockwise. Then, having checked the mags are both hanging down disconnected and off, the prop can be pulled through five to 10 blades. Remember, although unlikely, this is an inverted engine whose cylinders might possibly partially fill with oil, so turning the prop is not the ‘sucking in’ process. Back in the cockpit with brakes on, the electric fuel pump is switched on – checking the pressure is above
Below The instrument with its mix of quirky and regular gauges and switchgear.
Taxying by myself in the right-hand deckchair backed seat is a forlorn attempt. Having been given control with a judiciously safe and large open area in front of the Nord’s nose, all attempts at S turning with only rudder pedals and no brakes had absolutely no effect, other than promoting slight anxiety for me. A burst of power can usually vitalise the rudders to swing a castoring tailwheel, but no, as I assumed, the twin rudders were not affected by the slipstream. I closed the throttle, rolled to a stop and handed control back to Richard. Perhaps with a strong wind flowing over the rudders then the right seater might have a modicum of control, but otherwise no way. The book figures for the take-off roll to 40kt, with flaps on the second notch, is around the 200-metre mark, bearing in mind we were operating from grass, with its greater drag. Then accelerate in ground effect and climb away at 60kt. To clear a 15m object ahead we need a further 150m. We are burning fuel at a prodigious rate of 57 litres an hour at 2,500rpm, time to throttle back, cut the corner, and catch the camera ship. The best rate of climb with full power and the optimum speed of 60kt is 984ft per min, or as stated, 5 m/s. In general, and slightly optimistic, just multiply
September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 41
Flight Test metres per second by 20, which in this example gives 1,000ft per min. Not too far adrift.
twin rudders being released. It is all gratifyingly textbook. Those ailerons work right up to the stall, at which just at the beginning edge, the incipient hint, there is a shudder and then a goodly rate of sink, all very predictable behaviour. The standard stall recovery works splendidly, both clean and in the approach configuration. The upper flap limiting speed is 75kt and the stall is in the mid 40s so there is plenty of time to apply and balance power with accurate anticipatory footwork and then retract that drag flap. I later read, unsurprisingly, that intentional spinning is prohibited, but it was obviously part of its original test flying as the pilot’s operating handbook advises a nonstandard recovery technique. After closing the throttle, apply the opposite rudder to the direction of rotation (good so far) but then just centralise the stick without pushing it forward and waiting. The standard is to ease the stick forward, with neutral ailerons, until the spin stops, then exit the steep dive. I am also intrigued by the prospect of twin unmasked fins and twin working rudders engulfed in free air without the hindrance of a shielding tailplane. Unfortunately I can only wonder.
General handling
Set in the recommended cruise of 75pz manifold pressure and 2,180rpm we are trimmed out showing an indicated speed of 90kt while burning 36 lph. We have a marvellous view of the world, both ahead and to the side, and above and below the shoulder wing. And had we a radio operator in the third, back seat, although he couldn't see quite as much as us, the rear perspex comes right to the base of the fuselage. Richard had previously warned me that the ailerons are slightly heavier than one might expect, otherwise I would have thought we had a lot of ‘stiction’ within the circuitry. Admittedly there is little or no aileron drag, but the ailerons are definitely heavy. In relation to the other controls the pitch functions well, and yaw with rudders in free air which would normally be of a higher value, is less than the force needed for rolling with ailerons. So, what is usual in harmony terms for values of aileron:elevator:rudder of the ideal values of 1:2:4, the Norvigie has an order of elevator:rudder:ailerons – but I would struggle to place values on them. However, this unusual trait doesn’t take long to overcome and internalise, you accept the force and live with it. It is what it is, it’s just different. Something else that is different was to find a G meter on the panel for an aircraft specifically intended for the observation role. However, it limits the stick force to 2.89G, and when you consider that to sustain a 60° balanced turn the aircraft is experiencing 2G, in effect this limitation prevents the pilot from bank angles exceeding 69° (3G is felt at 70.6°). So, overly steep turns are not on the agenda today.
Landing
A stable aeroplane
It probably comes as no surprise that Whisky Romeo is stable in all three axes, after all she is a spotter aeroplane. She responds well to starting points for the phugoid hunt of either nose up or down, swapping speed for height and height for speed as the trimmed speed is recaught and she is settled again in stable, level flight. Releasing from a steady heading side-slip with crossed controls, first those double deckered ailerons show lateral stability and a return to wings level, and the nose swings back into alignment with the
Below No, proud owner Richard Ellingworth isn’t 5ft 2in, this is one big aeroplane.
Richard generously allowed me the landing, brave fellow. The approach was made with three stages of flap at 55kt (just above 1.3 of the stall speed), with the prop wound anti-clockwise to fine. Should we have experienced an engine failure during the detail, then the glide speed is at 55kt with coarse pitch wound on clockwise. Book figures to clear that 15m tree, or any other obstruction coming in and landing, is 350m with a ground roll the same as the take-off run. Crosswind limit is high at 20kt, but we had no real wind to speak of, although I am sure a pair of feet were hovering over the brakes in the left-hand seat. She paid out nicely and the flare height is just a tad higher than an Auster or Cub, seeing our seats are that little bit higher in this Nord. She ran straight and true. To say I enjoyed flying this rare bird is an understatement. I enjoyed discovering so many little idiosyncratic features and, when airborne, to be able to hover around David’s Pacer over such scenic countryside, with Neil capturing our antics and then to be let free to see how she behaved, was a real treat. Thankyou Richard for your time and generosity. ■
Nord NC856A Norvigie Bulldog Model 120 General characteristics
Crew: Two +1 Length: 7.3m (24ft 0in) Wingspan: 12.2m (40ft 0in) Height: 2.1m (7ft 0in) Wing area: 17.0 m2 (183 sq ft) Empty weight: 651kg (1,432lb) Gross weight: 902kg (1,984lb) Powerplant: 1 × Regnier 4L.O4 four-cylinder air cooled inverted inline engine, 104 kW (140 hp)
Performance
Maximum speed: 189km/h (118mph, 103kn) Cruise speed: 170km/h (106mph, 92kn) Stall speed: 7 km/h (43.5mph, 37.8kn) Endurance: Three hours Rate of climb: 5.0m/s (984ft/min) 42 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
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How green is your airfield? Unspoilt airfield outland holds the potential to be classified as environmentally important traditional hay meadow, helping protect the airfield for future generations. Jay Gates reports…
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ou may remember that in the June 2020 edition of Light Aviation here was an article explaining the environmental importance of airfields as ‘open green spaces’, with increasing evidence from local nature and environmental surveys that they are important as low-insecticide, low-herbicide sanctuaries for plants, insects and associated wildlife. Airfields offer a wide range of sustainable and diverse wildlife habitats, both in their margins and even up to and, if it’s a grass airfield, including the runway. In addition to these relatively undisturbed environments, there is also scope for environmentally friendly development, including tree or shrub planting in airfield peripheries away from
44 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Above Your airfield runways could well be surrounded by a highly environmentally important traditional hay meadow. Photo: Michael Micklos.
flying areas, to offer carbon offsetting against aircraft exhaust emissions. In fact, a number of airfields are, to quote the oft used term, already ‘carbon-neutral’. So, what can you do to evaluate the environmental importance of your airfield? Perhaps the words below from Jay Gates, who manages Bodmin airfield in Cornwall, might give some guidance. And do let us know what you find on your airfield or strip. Please feel free to drop us a line to office@laa.uk.com
Preserving a disappearing environment
Since the end of WWII, over 95% of what was known as a traditional hay meadow has disappeared from the rural British landscape as a result of modern farming methods,
Green airfield
land drainage, industrial development and the increased need to build ever more homes out in the country. The loss of the traditional hay meadow has had a dramatic effect on the survival of our pollinators, namely bees, without which we will not have the fruits, vegetables and other associated foodstuffs that we all require. As the operators of Bodmin Airfield, Cornwall, we recently discovered that we have a traditional hay meadow that is not only rich in flora and fauna, but also quite possibly one of the largest traditional hay meadows in the south-west of England. It is an outcome though, that was arrived at by accident rather than by design, because for the past few decades the airfield has had no herbicides, pesticides or harmful fertilisers spread across it. Also, other than the runways and taxiways, the outfield is only cut once a year, with the cuttings all baled and removed from the site by a local farmer for use as silage and fodder for his cattle. We also carry out a thorough removal of ragwort from our airfield every year. This is undertaken because we are surrounded on all four sides by sheep farms, cattle farms, common grazing land and bridle paths. Ragwort has the potential to be lethal to sheep, cattle and horses if ingested, and there is actually a law that expects landowners to ensure that ragwort does not pass to neighbouring land and create issues for other landowners. We therefore follow the guidance and recommendations, and the result is better community relations, and our farmers receive hay that is ragwort free.
Purely by chance
Just over two years ago, Ian Benallick, who is the Botanical Recorder for Cornwall and co-author of a book about Cornish wildflowers, was walking past the airfield when he spotted an orchid in the airfield verge. He rang to ask if he could come inside the airfield and conduct a quick survey of our flora, which of course we were delighted to arrange for him. His ‘quick’ two-hour survey turned up an
Above Collecting Rattle seeds for the local Farmers Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAGSW) at Bodmin in late July 2021. Photo: Dr Grace Twiston-Davies.
astonishing list of over 150 species of wildflowers, grasses and ferns which included an estimate of over 3,000 orchids of three distinct species in the outfield. It was at this point that he told us that we were the stewards for what was slightly more important than merely a pleasant GA airfield on the side of Bodmin Moor. This discovery has led to us building relationships with many interested organisations and academics to allow them to look at ways to protect the airfield, learn from it, and for us to let others benefit from what we have. General Aviation airfields may be sitting on land that is more important to the nation than you would have previously thought. Instead of being the scourge of NIMBY complainers, and those who think aviation is harmful to the environment, it may well be that we all have something to cherish, protect and share with the local community who live around us. There’s a lot being made on the effect on our pollinators on the loss of this critically important landscape, hence the national drive to plant bee bombs in your gardens and for the councils to seed the road verges with wildflowers. Of course, it is not only bees that we need to protect, as pollinators also include wasps, hover flies, beetles, flies, moths and butterflies. Our long untouched outfield means we also have a large and healthy skylark population, and further surveys that have been carried out have resulted in a list of almost 170 species of flora. Our soil samples have shown that we are what the National Vegetation Classification lists as an MG5 Grassland landscape, i.e., a traditional hay meadow, of which there is now less than 6,000 hectares remaining in the whole of England.
Engaging with the community
Obviously, an airfield that follows the CAA anti-bird ‘long grass’ policy and conducts regular cuts of the outfield throughout the year, will find they do not have a traditional hay meadow in their outfield. And those small aerodromes September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 45
Green airfield and farm strips where crops are grown in the outfield, will find the same. However, if your particular airfield turns out to also be MG5 land, you are helping to arrest the decline of hay meadows, and it would not hurt your environmental reputation if your local community was made aware of your positive input to saving our treasured pollinators. At Bodmin, we have built up a relationship with our local University Ecology department whose NERC researchers are conducting studies of the land, and who are sending students to us to conduct pollinator surveys. We have also developed a great relationship with the local Farmers Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAGSW) who assist farmers who wish to change their land from non-organic to organic, and create natural hay meadows for pollinators, thus helping them with their own crops. So far, we have donated two swathes of our cut hay to local farming estates to allow them the process of improving their own environments. This is only the beginning however, the FWAGSW people tell us our airfield has enough grass to fulfill their whole county programme, if we were able to donate it to them. We have also donated seeds from our airfield to conservationists, as these seeds represent the important species that accelerate the change of an ordinary grass field to that of a traditional hay meadow.
Protecting our airfields
On top of this is the fact that MG5 grassland may mean the airfield is able to seek land stewardship grants to allow the airfield to manage the grassland and protect the environment. In some cases, Natural England may afford greater protection to your airfield that stops any future opportunity for property developers to eye your land for building purposes.
46 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Below Southern Marsh orchids and Heath Spotted orchids are among a plethora of wild flora at Bodmin. Photo: Jay Gates.
And, of course, you have an educational asset not just for university students and researchers, but also for local schools, botanical clubs and other community interested parties. Your community will help you protect what you may have. Darren Fern, the Cornwall Flying Club chairman, summed it all up when he said: “Bodmin Airfield has been working with Exeter University and other environmental groups over the past couple of years. We have an outstanding example of a native English hay meadow, and the seeds from the grasses are highly sought after by farmers wishing to return their fields to their natural state. We have over 3,000 orchids of various species. We have the resource because for the past 40 odd years, we’ve never used fertiliser, we’ve removed invasive and non-native plants, and all we have done is cut the grass runways, leaving nature to look after the rest of the site. “By encouraging links with the University, CLA and Natural England etc., we have become a beacon of conservation in the county. Botanists from all over the country now ask to visit our airfield. I’m sure many other airfields across the country have similar ‘outfield’ areas that will have the same natural diversity and environmentally valuable resources that exist BECAUSE we are an airfield, not despite it being an airfield. “There is an opportunity for airfields to be recognised as being environmental heroes, and not the villains for a change. I encourage all airfield owners to contact their local university ecology departments and farming organisations, so that we can share our resource and be viewed in a positive light. We have a great opportunity to safeguard our airfields. Use it.” ■
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THE LAA RALLY 2021 By Chrystelle Launai
Many of you will be heading to Sywell for a very special Rally where the LAA will be celebrating its 75th Anniversary. Sadly, we have had to reluctantly take the decision not to participate this year because at the time we had to make the decision, a ten-day quarantine position is in place. We first attended the LAA Rally in 2017. It was a very special event for us that year as we were officially launching the LAA Member Insurance Scheme, after over a year working on the design of the scheme with the valuable assistance of the LAA board, who helped us understand your specific needs and expectations. When Rally 2017 took place, we were handling a very limited number of policies for LAA members as we had only started to offer such cover a couple of months earlier, but most of these ‘pioneers’ of the scheme came to visit our stand, and it was really nice to put faces to names and rewarding to see happily insured customers! It was also an opportunity to meet many more LAA members, explain the main features of the programme, exchange views and listen to your comments and ideas. This was very fruitful and led to a number of adaptations and improvements of our insurance offer. During Rally 2018, additional to the great interaction with those of you who had joined the scheme, or who wanted to obtain information about it or requested a quote, we met the first LAA members for whom we were handling their unfortunate claims. Their experience is most important to us as the essential role of an insurance broker is precisely to support those insured when these circumstances arise, and make sure their claims are being handled in the most effective way. Our scheme includes an innovative DIY option. It acknowledges the fact that many of you usually prefer to repair your aircraft yourself, when it is feasible. If you opt for this option, you get a significant premium reduction, and a reduced deductible applies to the insured’s indemnification for the spare parts to be replaced and all ancillary costs (inspections, transportation if needed, etc…). This option was especially designed for the LAA members, and we had therefore no claims handling experience at all on this basis. As such, it was a relief to get your confirmation that the claims handling with DIY went smoothly and the outcome was satisfactory. Being at Rally 2019 already felt like home! Our enthusiasm to attend the annual event increases year after year. The number of pilots who had joined the scheme had more than doubled in one year and we had several appointments to look forward to, as well as meeting again with those of you who come and visit our stand each year. I also got to discover some amazing aircraft that I had never seen before, one of them a very tiny one, the smallest twin engine aircraft in the world actually, and whose name happens to be my nickname (although no longer used
since I have grown up!) - Cri-Cri. Another notable discovery was a brand new shiny yellow single-seat prototype aircraft built by eminent aircraft designer, for which we are very proud to handle coverage. It was the aircraft’s public debut and I think the paint hardly had time to dry before the event. Although we had previously seen pictures of the aircraft, it was great to see her for real. The common thread of these events has been the great support and warm welcome from of the whole LAA team, which significantly eases the organisation and makes our stay even more enjoyable. Our history Although we started providing services to LAA members in 2017, our relationship with private aircraft owners began much earlier. Air Courtage Assurances is an independent aviation insurance broking company based in Lyon, France and Geneva, Switzerland which has an extensive expertise designing successful group insurance schemes for general aviation. In the recreational aviation field, we are the official insurance broker of many associations and federations, including the RSA, the French aviation association which supports amateur building with the same passion as the LAA does in the UK. Air Courtage has also been providing a continuous broking service to the French Federation of Microlight (FFPLUM) since 2003, and to the FFVV (gliders), the FFH (rotor wings) and the RSA since 2004. This successful experience gave us some renown within this field which has led similar associations from other countries to invite us to develop similar programmes for them. The LAA was the first to do so five years ago, since followed by a number of others. As this fragile insurance market is hardening, seeking synergies with homogeneous flying activities all over Europe could be a good way of arousing the insurers’ interest in the recreational aviation field. The risk placements used to be organised by country, but in this changing market it is probably time to think more globally. Building a pan-European insurance placement, though maintaining the specific needs of the members of each national association, would ensure more sustainability. It is our challenge for the forthcoming year, we therefore hope to tell you more about it at the LAA Rally next year. We will miss seeing you all again this year, but we are now eagerly looking forward to Rally 2022, which we will be very excited to attend after two years of withdrawal symptoms! We wish the LAA a happy anniversary and you all a most enjoyable Rally 2021. See you next year.
A DEDICATED INSURANCE PROGRAMME FOR LAA MEMBERS https://www.air-assurances.uk/laa laa@air-assurances.com
Build-a-Plane
Headset review
Build-a-Plane gets new lease of life Apprentices move Rans S6 along after four years of inactivity. Rares Turcu reports…
A
Rans S6-ES project that had been languishing in a container at Havering College for four years due to a lack of qualified people to oversee the project, was generously donated to the Stansted Airport College (STAC) where it is now progressing, thanks to the good work of Ryanair Engineering Apprentices. The Student Project Leader is Rares Turcu, who is also a committee member on YES, the LAA’s Youth Education Support. The project was moved to the Ryanair hangar December 2019. Rares writes: When we received the aircraft, it wasn’t in such a great condition and still needed a lot of work done. Only the basic four aileron fuselage assembly had been completed so our first task was to build the tail assembly and elevator/rudder control system. After a lot of work, and checking everything was correctly aligned, we have now competed the covering
48 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Above Andy Daines (Ryanair Training Manager), Rares Turcu (in aircraft), and Ryanair Apprentices Jack Hawkins, Mark De Jesus and Joseph De Saint Esteban show off the S6.
of the fuselage and tail components with the special lace on fabric ‘socks’ provided in the kit. One of our biggest hurdles was that we still needed an engine for the Rans, but we managed to get hold of a Rotax 912S from an aircraft that had been involved in a hangar fire. The engine only has 270 hours on the clock, however, we had to send the cylinder heads off for NDT testing to ensure that their structural integrity hadn’t been affected by the fire. They turned out to be in good condition, so fortunately once reassembled, the engine will be ready for flying. While the heads were away, we also had the pistons removed and cleaned. Our thanks go to YES who funded the seals and gaskets required for these operations. The next part of the project was moving the aircraft from the Ryanair Hangar to the STAC facility so the project can be continued alongside the students in the college. We want to use this opportunity to teach as many people as we can about aviation.
Build-a-Plane
Top left The aircraft at the Ryanair hangar as received. Above Rares (left) with a couple of apprentices, the tail surfaces having been completed ready to cover. Above Left Rares removes the heads from the 912S for metallurgical inspection. Left Control systems installed. Right Start covering with a small part first!. Below Current state of play and looking good. Unfortunately lack of funds is hampering the build. We hope to continue by building the wings in the near future, and then install the engine, but funding is holding us back as we need to pay for the engine, engine mounts and prop.
Next generation
Our aim to pass our passion for aviation to the next generation of engineers coming into the college and give them the opportunity to fly in an aircraft that they have built. We have YES and the LAA working alongside us, giving guidance and funding for small necessities. Being a member of the YES committee, I am aware of the lack of funds which we currently have due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We are seeking funding in order to continue motivating youngsters through our events and to help them pursue careers in aviation. If any members have any ideas or would like to help us, we would be delighted to hear from them. ■ August 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 47
Fly-It Day
Safety
Get airborne – LAA 75 Fly-It Day Steve Slater invites you to mark our 75th Anniversary by going flying on Tuesday 26 October, or on Sunday 31 if you are unable to fly during the week!
T
uesday 26 October 1946 was the date of the meeting which inaugurated the Ultra Light Aircraft Association, which subsequently became the LAA, and we want to mark the occasion by getting as many LAA members as possible into the air on that day.
Fly-It Day
Right Whatever you fly, be it a Pitts Special… Below …an RV-9A, in fact anything with wings or rotor, go fly it for fun on LAA 75 Fly-It Day!
As the name implies, we’re simply encouraging as many members as possible to get their aircraft out and fly. It doesn’t matter whether this is a Permit aircraft or not. Whether you own or rent, we want members (and their friends) to take to the air to celebrate our 75th Anniversary.
Log it
We’ll also give you the chance to log your flight for posterity via the LAA website. A special page will allow you to enter your name, aircraft details, where you flew from and to, and add any special stories about the flight. If you send us your address details, we’ll also send you a commemorative logbook sticker! We’re also working on a competition for the most unusual / innovative / inspirational flights. More on this in next month’s Light Aviation.
Fly a friend
The Fly-It Day will offer a great opportunity for you to take a friend flying. Whether it’s a flying buddy, a neighbour, or just somebody you meet on the airfield, why not offer them a flight? If you think it’s worthwhile, we can even send you a certificate that will allow them to have a memento.
Fly to LAA HQ
Looking for somewhere to fly to? We’ll be having an LAA HQ Open House at Turweston. We’ll even stand the landing fees and have some refreshments at LAA HQ. You can drop in and meet the LAA team and take a look around our offices. We’ll be setting up a pre-booking system for PPR, just in case we start to run out of parking spaces! Again, more on this next month.
Take a picture…
We’ll be creating an LAA 75 Birthday Album. Send us your pictures and we’ll post them on our Facebook page, website and a selection in the LAA magazine!
Fly-It Sunday
We know that many of us still have ‘day jobs’ and we may be at the mercy of the autumnal weather, so we’ll have a fallback ‘Fly-It Sunday’ on 31 October. Turweston will already be busy that day, with a Vintage Aircraft Club Fly-In and AGM, but why not come and join in the fun? ■ 50 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
July 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 49
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LAA Strut News
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Struts 4U
hen you sit down to read this, we will most likely very soon have, or have already had the opportunity to meet up again at Sywell in the Struts’ Area at the LAA 75 Rally. Not only that but we will also be able to share news of Strut fly-ins that have taken place in the last few weeks and get back to talking about the normal problems of British summertime weather! Yorkshire has been the centre of attention for several fly-ins already this year, with the White Rose of Yorkshire on display at Rufforth East for the Vale of York Strut celebration of Yorkshire Day. The two-day event, organised by Alan Kilbride and Chris Holliday, was a relaxed and enjoyable occasion with plenty of good Yorkshire food in the café, along with live music. The very impressive LAA-75 display trailer, with thanks to Nick Kelly and LX avionics, stood outside and provided a focal point for visitors, as did the new CH 750 Cruzer, featured on the LA magazine cover last month, parked alongside. However, Yorkshire had also attracted members from the Highland Strut earlier in July for ‘Le Tour de Yorkshire’. Aircraft from the Scottish Highlands included a Hornet Moth, Jodel and Aeronca in a tour of 11 airfields – Saltersgate near Fylingdales, Bagby, Breighton, Newton on Rawcliffe and Fadmoor were included in the trip – and David Lockett from the Highland Strut reported very favourably on the lovely people, weather and scenery.
by Anne Hughes
75th Anniversary Strut fly-ins and events…
Intrepid arrival
A stunning line-up of aircraft also flew into Monewden in July, as Andrew Butterworth writes, “The Suffolk Coastal Strut held it’s ‘Boxted Revival Fly-in’ on Sunday 10 July. This year it was held at Monewden Airstrip courtesy of the owner, Steve Eustace, owing to the unserviceability of the Boxted site. Although the weather was unseasonable, overcast and drizzle at times, the event was well attended, with one intrepid arrival en route to their home base in Scotland. 52 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Above Beautiful weather at Branscombe ensured very good attendance for the Devon Strut fly-in. Photo: Nigel Hitchman. Right The Vale of York’s Yorkshire Day saw one of the first outings for the new LX Aviation / LAA display unit. Photo: Anne Hughes. Below right Suffolk Coastal Strut’s Boxted event was held at Monewden and was another event that was well attended despite rather indifferent weather. Photo: Cheryl Prax
Various permit types attended along with the usual club and training aircraft. Among the air park were two Chilton DW.1As and a Hornet Moth. Catering was supplied by Strut members, and all enjoyed a well organised social occasion.” Devon Strut was invited to Branscombe Airfield in South Devon for a Strut fly-in during July and, as the airfield is only permitted three unlimited fly-ins a year, it was an event anticipated with much finger-crossing weatherwise. However, such wishful thinking was not
LAA Strut News required as the event coincided with dry, hot, sunny conditions and was a total success both for aviators and campers, with nearly eighty aircraft arrivals. Refreshments, including pizza, were provided and the line of members’ aircraft proved an irresistible attraction for photographers. Devon Strut is planning to return for an Autumn fly-in and, after the difficulties of planning events in the last eighteen months, will be another date to put in the diary! The weather took a dip when it was time for Pete White, Jay Gates and the Cornwall Strut to host the Vintage Aircraft Club fly-in at Bodmin. The local weather improved as the weekend went on but spirits were lifted on the first evening when we had the pleasure of listening to the saxophone quartet, Fourthought, and local poets and actors who
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any Struts are still relying on Zoom for their monthly meetings so please do check the status before turning up to an advertised meeting. Struts of course welcome new members, if you haven’t been in touch with your local Strut then why not contact them and get involved? Andover Strut: Spitfire Club, Popham Airfield, SO21 3BD. 1930. Contact keith. picton@ntlworld.com Bristol Strut: BAWA Club, Filton, 1930. Contact: chairman@bristolstrut.uk www. bristolstrut.uk Cornwall Strut: The Clubhouse, Bodmin Airfield. Contact: Pete White pete@aeronca. co.uk 01752 406660 11 September – Strut Fly-In. 15 September 1900 – The Real Battle of Britain by Peter Channon. Devon Strut: The Exeter Court Hotel, Kennford, Exeter. 1930. Strut 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 13 Sept – A History of Gliding from George Cayley to Perlan by Roger Alton. Zoom contact available. 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. Contact: harry.hopkins@talktalk.net 14 September and 12 October – meetings 1930pm at the Victory Club.
entertained us with a mixture of poetry, prose and aeroplane bingo in the hangar! There was excitement too as the airfield had very recently been identified as an area of botanical interest by the local university ecological department. A full account of the importance of this discovery and its relevance for other airfields where there are likely to be undiscovered areas of significance, is published elsewhere in this issue. However, all at Bodmin are keen to impress on all Strut members the importance of having a close look at the outlying areas around their airfield and to report back. It has been good to hear how all of us are returning to meeting up around aircraft again and we look forward to hearing more about Strut adventures, gatherings and suchlike for the autumn columns!
Strut calendar 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. 18 September – Meet the LAA Day at Headcorn. 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. 11301330 at Fishburn Aviator Cafe. Contact: alannixon297@btinternet.com North Western Strut: Veterans Lounge, Barton, Manchester, 1930 for 2000. Contact: cliffmort@btinternet.com 07813 497427. North Wales Strut: Caernarfon Airport, Dinas Dinlle. First Sunday of the month – HEMS Bistro Café. 1300. Contact: Gareth Roberts gtrwales@gmail.com 07876 483414. Oxford Group: New Venue from 11 August. Sturdy’s Castle Country Inn, Banbury Road, Kidlington, OX5 3EP. Second Wednesday each month. Contact LAAOxford@gmail.com www.oxfordlaa.co.uk Redhill Strut: The Dog and Duck, Outwood, Surrey, RH1 5QU. 3rd Tuesday of each month at 1930. Contact: david@milstead.me.uk Shobdon Strut: Hotspur Café, Shobdon Airfield, Hereford HR6 9NR. 1930. Meetings on the second Thursday of the month. 9 September – Major Arial Theatres of WWII and their Axis Impact by Robert Apsley. Contact: Keith Taylor bushebiggles@sky.com
Southern Strut: The Swiss Cottage, Shoreham-by-Sea. 2000. Normal meetings will resume on the first Wednesday of the month when permitted. 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: Crowfield Airfield Clubhouse. 1930. Contact: Martyn Steggalls events@suffolkcoastalstrut.org.uk 07790 925142. 26 Sept – 11am-4pm, BBQ at Monewden. 20 Oct – Guest speaker, TBA Vale of York Strut: Chocks Away Café, Rufforth East Airfield. Contact: Chris Holliday 07860 787801 valeofyorkstrutlaa@gmail.com www.valeofyorkstrutlaa.wordpress.com Wessex Strut: Henstridge Airfield Clubhouse. Fortnightly Strut walks organised by Wessex Aviators Leisure Club. Contact neil.wilson@laa.uk.com West Midlands Strut: Navigator Café, Halfpenny Green Aerodrome 1930. Contact: Graham Wiley westmidlandslaastrut@ googlegroups.com Stuart Darby stuartdarby134@hotmail.com. or visit our website wmstrut.co.uk West of Scotland Strut: Bowfield Country Club, Howwood, PA9 1DZ. 1900. Contact: Neil Geddes barnbethnkg@gmail.com 01505 612493. Youth & Education Support (YES) – Contact: Graham Wiley gw20home@outlook.com 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 September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 53
Meet the Members
A fourth to reckon with…
This month we chat to Andy Phillips, an enthusiastic RV builder and flyer, who is on his fourth build. He is also the man behind fuel system component company, Andair Limited…
W
elcome Andy, can you tell us something about your career?
My current day job is that I’m building another RV, my fourth, an RV-7, but I still go into work at Andair on a sort of part-time basis. I help with inspecting finished parts ready to go to the customer, but more on that later. As for schooling I went to Courtmoor Secondary school at Fleet in Hampshire. All I really wanted to do was to play cricket, plus build and fly model aeroplanes, but I was also active in our school youth club where we took over the woodworking shop in the evenings to make a PBK canoe – a plywood frame and spruce stringers with canvas stretched over it. I left school at 15 and applied to The Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough to become a toolmaker.
54 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Above Andy Phillips in his Van’s RV-7, his third RV build, at the LAA Rally in 2015
They offered me a craft apprenticeship and I became one of the 1962 intake, which was the start of six years of a fantastic education. I was very interested in instrument making and had been making parts for radar etc. when my apprentice supervisor entered me in the Establishment competition to make a test piece to a drawing, and much to my surprise I won. They then sent me to the British Apprentice competition, which I managed to win as well, so they decided I should go to Utrecht in Holland to compete in the International Apprentice Competition, where I came third. When I returned home, I was presented with a gold watch and interviewed on the radio. And to round things off, when the Queen and Prince Philip came to Farnborough to open part of what was then the new Concorde building, I was presented to them. It was a real honour!
Meet the Members
Farnborough must have been a very interesting place to be in the 1960s
Yes, it was, and being there for the Farnborough Air Show was a yearly spectacle. One event that stands out in my mind was six, or maybe eight, English Electric Lightnings. Their show started with them in a row one behind the other roaring down the runway and then climbing vertically, as the last one in the procession started his climb you could see all eight in plan-view, top to bottom, what a racket – or should I say rocket – it must have been like sitting on a firework! Another memory is that because we were testing parts for Concorde, we had a Vulcan bomber to play with to test the Olympus engines. The Vulcan had four Conway engines and I can remember it doing a fly-by using its Conways; then lighting up the one underslung Olympus and switching off the Conways and climbing away on the one engine! As apprentices, we would be moved from place to place and one interesting task we got up to was to remake Cody’s memorial tree. On the main entrance to the Establishment there is a twisted leafless tree. We apprentices remade it in the foundry, casting each branch individually and bolting it all together. One of my details was working in a small outpost close to the ejector seat gantry, this gantry was as high as a dock crane and laid over at about five degrees. I had been working in my little shop for a week or so when a group of guys turned up and busied themselves preparing the ejector seat for test – not to test the seat but the metal of the poor guy who was to sit in it. A mighty explosion sent the poor chap rocketing up the gantry, it was all over in a blink of an eye. He was then sitting up there for quite a while till they winched him down – next please!
I believe you met Sir Barnes Wallis?
Yes, after leaving the RAE I worked at Farnborough Tech College as a technician, really to get some help to pass some exams which made it possible to apply for a job at BAC Weybridge. I was very lucky as I got on a design course in a new R&D department working under some very
Above left Developing ice removal systems for ships in the RAE Stratosphere Chamber. Above right Being presented to the Queen for international success in an Apprentice Competition. Below Andy in his days at BAC Weybridge, where he worked under Sir Barnes Wallis.
special people, one being Sir Barnes Wallis. I was one of 10 guys selected to help lay out designs for a number of very interesting projects, from swing wing fighters to clearing ice off fishing trawlers. I had so much fun at BACs, it was a real privilege being in the design school, I can’t remember exactly but I think it was the BAC One-Eleven that I helped loft out the cockpit. This was great fun as we had the whole upper part of a gigantic hanger where we could lay out the cockpit shape. We used what were called ‘mouse and splines’. The mouse looked like a heavy mouse body with a little ‘beak’ and the spline was a long thin piece of spruce or similar, and the beak would hold down the spline as you positioned it to draw your shape.
What made you decide to start Andair?
I started my engineering company in 1972 with a Myford Lathe and a pillar drill. I would take anything on, and at one stage I was making parts for a nuclear submarine on the Myford. Gradually the business expanded, and we got a factory and filled it with CNC machines. I had learned to fly at Goodwood about the same time, but of course ran out of money. The next best thing was to learn to glide so I joined Lee-on-Solent naval gliding club as a civilian. I was expected to earn my position, so I made gliding trailers and generally helped out to keep my membership. Gliding is great and I think it should be a compulsory part of learning to fly. Going up the wire and experiencing a cable break you have to get the nose down quickly, something that doesn’t seem to get taught well in power flying for engine failure. I was lucky again to gain my Silver ‘C’ and this helped me to get my PPL with only a few hours of power flying back at Goodwood. I had one good year where the company made a profit and, having flown an Auster for nearly 20 years (and that’s another story of real fun and excitement), I wanted something faster. There was nothing much better than the Auster until I saw a good friend of mine, Ray Harper, flying an RV-6. Now, that was the aircraft I wanted, so I phoned Van’s Aircraft to see if I could go out to the States and fly one. This I did and immediately ordered an RV-6. Anyone who builds an RV-6, or four, must be dedicated to the enth degree, as
September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 55
Meet the Members
there are no punched holes and you need to make jigs. In the meantime, the factory was jogging along and we were locked into subcontract work for all manner of industries, from F1 to spray guns, but my true wish was to design and manufacture our own product. We had tried lots of inventions, from bar feed mechanisms to optical tool setters, all eventually fell by the wayside until on the build of the RV, I had to put the fuel system in. In the kit was a brass (dare I say it) fuel valve, I sat down with Alan, he was our CNC programmer and we started to design a valve that could incorporate features I felt were helpful in the fitting of it, and also a key feature where the fuel cannot be turned off inadvertently, it requires a positive action. We built up about 10 of these valves and off I went to Sun ‘n’ Fun in Florida to show them off to Aircraft Spruce. I showed the owner, Jim Irwin, who looked at them and said, “Yeah, we might be able to sell them.” So feeling buoyed up I went back to him every day of the show to ask if he had sold any, and of course he had not. Feeling despondent I came home and thought, another one ‘bites the dust’. To my surprise, a couple of weeks went by and I’d a phone call from Jim asking for some more, I just couldn’t believe it, Andair was on its way. Owen (my son) had been watching from his room at Brunel University itching to get going, but he had to finish his degree, so as soon as that happened, he came on board. New blood and new ideas got the firm really going. We both went out to the States to see Cirrus Design, which was a pivotal moment in Andair’s future as
they were designing the SR20 aeroplane. It was part of a project called ‘Highway in the Sky’ both Cirrus and PAC (the Pacific Aircraft Corporation) were involved in this project. We visited Cirrus and sat down with the designers and again were very lucky to be considered a supplier of the fuel bits and pieces. However, it took about three years to finalise production, but we kept at it as it was a very important move for us into the US market. We have been working with Cirrus for over 25 years now and it’s been one of the most enjoyable partnerships. Above Andair fuel system components have become an industry standard in light aircraft around the world. Below Andy by Lake Constance, having flown to Friedrichshafen from his strip near Southampton in two hours 50 minutes. Bottom Andy’s much loved Auster for 20 years, G-AXMN.
How have fuel systems developed over the years?
We have been using lightweight materials, like the aluminium alloys, and in some cases 3D printed materials. 3D printing is extremely useful in prototype work where we can draw up a design and it can be printed up so we can ‘get a feel’ for what it would be like in metal. The strategy of the company is to offer the customer as close as we can to a complete fuel system in that we can supply fuel tank parts, fuel filters, fuel pumps, selector valves and ancillary parts like oil/air separators. Owen and his team have been working on our own design fuel pumps, and as far as we know we are the only light aircraft fuel pump manufacturer using our own, painstakingly developed, brushless motor technology. We do not use any automotive fuel pumps to power our systems. The spin-off in using our fuel pumps is that they are very lightweight, powerful and draw very little current, making them ideal for light sport type aircraft.
In what, where and when was your first flight?
That’s difficult, we never went on holiday abroad together as a family, remember I was born when the Wright brothers were just getting going, so a holiday flying somewhere would be in a Viscount or Bristol Freighter! I think I caught the bug when I first went solo, to be able to see and go places I could only imagine was the most exciting thing to me. I flew a lot in the ubiquitous C150 at Goodwood and to be able to fly around was fantastic. My first power solo flight was on 3 April 1976 in a Robin HR 200, G-BBCY and my first gliding solo 6 December 1981 in a K7 at Lee-on-Solent. It was no use to me just floating about in the local area, so I looked around for an aeroplane to own, and this is where my dear friends Les and Paul Groves came to the rescue. We heard that there was an Auster in a very sorry state languishing in the back of a hanger over on the Isle of Wight. All the fabric was in poor condition and had been sprayed different colours with successive paint jobs. My offer was accepted, so Les, Paul and I loaded the bits (they were bits) onto a trailer and brought it back to Paul’s workshop.
Meet the Members
However, before that I was so excited to show Terry, my wife, we diverted to home where I displayed the project. By this time having travelled across from the island the loose fabric was halfway down the road, it looked awful, and I don’t think it made a great impression on Terry!
How did you hear about the PFA/LAA
I guess I heard about the PFA when I started flying the Auster, I can remember Cranfield and Wroughton rallies, and most of all the people that attended. I must just say a couple of things that really tickled me, one was I think Nigel Hitchman, flying his Cub over us all with a megaphone at 4am asking us politely to WAKE UP! And one time, when it was pouring with rain, sitting in my tent and hearing voices outside. I looked out and it was a plane spotter, sopping wet, draped in cameras, and speaking the registrations into a tape machine. But the funny part was his bedraggled girlfriend being pulled along behind, I often wondered how long that relationship lasted…
Tell us about the fish and chip run?
Oh! Well, I thought it might be a bit of fun to have a little adventure, so I asked some friends if they would like to come up to the hanger one evening for a fish and chip supper with a little difference. I had flown over to Alderney in my RV a few times with Terry and had meals over there, but there is a fish and chip shop there called The Braye Chippy, it’s by the harbour. I called one of the girls and asked if they could put together 16 fish and chip suppers and the answer came back, yes, no problem. Anyway, once I’d sorted the flight planning and the weather was suitable – it’s best to have a southerly blowing wind – I then phone the girls at the chippy, who all think it’s a ruse when I say I’m flying in from Fareham, but I manage to convince them it’s on. As a side issue, for pump testing at work we use dry ice and the containers it comes in are perfect for food storage. So off we go, my grandson Toren and me, flightplan filed and underway, weather looks good, get to
Top Andy’s RVs are tweaked for maximum performance, no doubt his latest will be even faster than No. 3! Above Andy in his youthfulness imbibing ‘low flying’ Caterham Super Seven.
50 north and we are set to go into Alderney, all no problem. I had organised a taxi from the airport to the chippy and said could he be there waiting for us, and sure enough there he was, so it’d be a nice little trip to the chippy. Just before I left the tower, I filed for return to the strip and said it was the ‘urgent fish and chip run’, just to put something in their log. At the chippy in the queue, I poked my head round to say “Hello, I’ve come for my 16 suppers.” Wow, such consternation, one of them said she thought it was a wind up, and they all started running around to get the order ready. I pay up and she throws in freebie ice creams and now the pressure is on to leap into the taxi with our cool boxes and go roaring off to the airport. We got our clearance from Jersey as its Class A airspace, and to my amazement they knew it was the ‘fish and chip run’ so I got a helpful clearance and they said, “Call leaving 50 north, fish and chip run.” The southerly wind reduced the return trip to about 45 minutes, and I think eight minutes of that was the taxi. A beat up over the field and a great feast ensued, with a beer or two to wash it down.
September 2021 | LIGHT AVIATION | 57
Meet the Members
How many types and hours have you flown?
I’m not one to see how many types I’ve flown. We had a Mooney which I did enjoy but because it was a certified aircraft I couldn’t work on it, and it did need a lot of work. My Auster was my first love, and I could talk about that forever. Just one thing I would say is that I took the kids, Alexis and Owen, down to the Scilly Isles where we set up the tent and had great fun there. Just before leaving, a guy asked if we were going to Richard Webber’s fly-in. I didn’t know Richard, but he said it was near Okehampton and to fly along the A38 till the tarmac changed colour, turn left and his fly-in is in a field there. We found it and from that day Richard has been a lifelong friend. We have flown all over Eastern Europe and have had wonderful times. Hours flown are at last count 2,400-plus, not a lot for the time I’ve been flying, but it has all been great fun.
Do you have any aviation heroes?
Oh, so many, the heroes I admire are the ones that got us all flying, but heroes is the wrong word. The people who have gone before us, like WWII pilots, are the true heroes. They knew it was their job and they showed no fear, but to go into battle with someone shooting at you must have been terrifying.
Have you had any ‘I learned from that’ moments?
Yes, too many. One springs to mind trying to get back into my airstrip. It was getting late in the day, night was coming on and of course, I’m above cloud and the deck is bright and sunny, so I start to descend through the cloud deck talking to Southampton. What I wanted to do was to get a surveillance radar approach and when I broke cloud, toddle off to my strip as it’s not that far away. However, it was too blinking dark, so I had to continue into Southampton. They were not very pleased as I do not possess an IR, it was a Permit aircraft (it was some while ago this happened), and I did not have a night rating. They weren’t best pleased with me!
What is on your aircraft and vehicle wish list?
Aircraft-wise nothing really. Like most aviators I would like to fly a Spitfire, Terry took me to Biggin Hill for a birthday gift to sit in a Spitfire, it was a coach trip so there were
56 | LIGHT AVIATION | August 2021
people there who were not really connected in any way with aviation. So there I was in the queue with a guy in his flying suit sitting on the wing explaining to this girl how to get into the cockpit and what all the knobs and buttons were for, totally bored saying the same thing over and over. Then it’s my turn to sit in and he asks me if I have any clue. I say no, not really, I just fly an RV-7, and he suddenly becomes interested and says the magic words ‘the guy who owns this Spit has an RV-7 and he says it flies just like the Spit’. Great I think to myself, I’ve saved myself two and a half grand then! Cars, I must confess I have a Caterham Super Seven. It’s the RV-7 of the road, in fact our club mag is called Low Flying. I do track days but I’m not a good enough driver to be competitive, even on track days, so I just flash about in it. I was in a traffic jam and the car is very low, and I was close to the pavement when this girl with a little boy hanging on the pushchair said out loud “Hey mummy, look at that old man in that racing car”. It really gives one a boost – not!
Do you have any non-aviation interests?
Yes, I repair old clocks when I get bored with other things. I am also building a three-and-half-inch Alchin traction engine. It is sitting on its wheels on the boiler, smokebox and gearing made, I’ve just got the rest to do. What a lot of work, it’s more difficult than building an aeroplane.
What advice would you offer fellow pilots?
If you’ve got time to spare, go by air. So many accidents are caused by trying to get somewhere when it’s poor weather and you feel time is important. I’ve learned that if the weather’s bad, either don’t go or leave it till tomorrow, or if you are stuck somewhere make the best of it. I have had so much fun after I had to divert to some far-out places. I’ve got really plastered with the locals – aviation people are the best and they help each other, I know as they have helped me many times. On a very serious subject, our membership is ageing, and we are getting into the area of some pretty horrible illnesses. If we take advantage of the tests available, we might be pleased to find that our health is OK, but it’s only if we push our way to see the right people and our generation have always said, “Oh I didn’t want to trouble you doctor.” Well, trouble them, it could really be worth you asking! ■
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CEO Thoughts
Encouraging new blood
O
ne of the LAA’s biggest challenges, and indeed that of the whole GA community, is the worrying demographic being displayed in that we’re all getting steadily older. Obviously, at a personal level we can’t do a lot about that, but the simple facts are demonstrated by our member surveys. When we ran the survey in 2011, the average age of respondents was 57.1 years. In 2016, the average was 59.6 years and when we ran the survey last summer, it was 64.1 years. This demographic is supported by a review of the ages quoted on membership applications. What is equally interesting is that in 2011, 24% of LAA members were 66 years old and over. In 2016 it was 36% and in 2020, 50%. At this rate we could significantly reduce the average age of our membership by advertising in Saga magazine! Similar trends are being noted in other segments of our community. The British Gliding Association has a fantastic youth programme with many first solos from around the age of 14. However, once they get past about 18 years old, they find that other priorities in life take over. There is a significant ‘age dip’ in their data, with the numbers only recovering in the 50+ age group. In fact, plotted on a graph, their older demographic ‘bow wave’ is even more pronounced than ours. You might expect those fit and healthy open-air flex-wing microlight pilots to be a younger demographic than us. Not so. Although the BMAA has a more direct link to trainee pilot recruitment via their oversight of microlight flying schools, in the longer run their demographic is pretty much identical to ours. Whisper it, they may even be a wee bit older!
What are the causes?
There are many reasons for this ageing demographic. One is that the ‘bow wave’ of ex-military ‘Cold War warriors’ who learned to fly at Her (or His) Majesty’s expense are all reaching retirement age, and the number of pilots currently trained by the armed forces has shrunk to a trickle. Meanwhile, the need for selffunding airline training now means that commercial pilots don’t have cash to spare for recreational flying till much later in their careers. And of course, the pressure on everybody’s family commitments means that few budding private pilots have the funds to think about their PPL until they are into their 40s. There is also the fact that most LAA members join us because they own a share in, own outright or aspire to owning an aircraft of their own. Typically, a new LAA member is in their 40s or 50s at the time they join us. The good news is that we usually retain them as members for 15 years or more. Actually, even with the challenges of Covid, our recruitment 60 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
CEO Thoughts
By Steve Slater
has remained remarkably strong and our overall membership at a little over 7,700 has recovered almost to 2019 levels. So, in the short-term, there isn’t an immediate crisis looming. One of the LAA’s priorities in recent years has been to engage more widely in the pilot community. That allows us to share our passion with yet more pilots.
Some of the positives
The big question though, is who will be their long-term successors? One of the great things about the resumption of flying events, air shows and fly-ins, is that we are increasingly being able to share our enthusiasm with some younger potential aviators for whom our events offer an all too rare opportunity to actually get up close to an aeroplane. In a world where security fences and anti-terrorism precautions are rife, so many airfields are simply not welcoming or accessible to enthusiastic youngsters. The LAA has the potential to reverse that, letting younger people get closer to the aircraft and, we hope, enable them to realise that flying or working in aviation is attainable after all. At the recent LAA Flying for Fun airshow at the Shuttleworth Collection, itself a great way to get the LAA message to a wider group of enthusiasts, I was delighted to see a number of younger visitors busily ticking off items in our LAA Airfield Adventure book. At subsequent post-lockdown airshows we’ve also relaunched the Young Peoples’ Aviation Art drawing zone, hosted in conjunction with the Guild of Aviation Artists, another way of planting the seeds of enthusiasm. The Shuttleworth events and other air shows also give us the chance to work with other like-minded organisations such as The Joystick Club, with their pedal planes and simulators, the LAA-supported Youth and Educational Support group, YES, the British Gliding Association and the Air Scouts. It’s great to see the fun that the ‘instagram generation’ can have, cheerfully launching stomp rockets, building model aircraft and flying flight simulators, as well as enjoying the flying. For those embarking on a flying career, there are a number of scholarships and bursaries available to help young pilots fulfil their dream. Organisations including the Honourable Company of Air Pilots, the Air League and the British Women Pilots Association, as well as the LAA, all offer vital support to allow youngsters to complete their training. One recent graduate of an LAA Armstrong-Isaacs Bursary, 18-year-old Ellie Carter, is now the chair of YES. Meanwhile congratulations too, to LAA Engineer Joe Hadley, who has just completed his Flying Instructors training, thanks to an Air Pilots bursary. ■
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3D Designed And Printed Homebuilt Aircraft Display Model Kits 10 different types available. inc Vans, Piper & Eurofox £35.00 inc p & p
Branded Clothing and Log Books LAA Log Books £12.50 each
LAA Baseball Cap
£11.50
LAA branded Navy coloured peaked caps. Made from brushed cotton and has an adjustable strap at the back to fit all sizes. Prices include P & P.
Prices include VAT where applicable
Landing vouchers
LANDING VOUCHERS ✁
Three FREE landings and one HALF price landing with an uptake of 20 litres of fuel comprise our October landing vouchers. Bodmin Airfield in Cornwall, Easter Airfield in Ross-shire, Scotland, and Sittles Farm in Staffordshire (weekends only) are all free landings for LAA members,
Aviation LIGHT
single engine piston aircraft. St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales is offering a half price landing on the uptake of 20 litres of fuel. Plenty of scope there, so get our and about and enjoy the generosity and friendly welcome from these interesting destinations.
Free Landing for October 2021 Bodmin Airfield 01208 821419
Operated by the Cornwall Flying Club. A very friendly airfield, 5nm NE of Bodmin with the Windsock Café open each day 10.00am-3.00pm except Tuesday and Wednesday. PPR essential. There are two runways. Taxis can be arranged to take you to the Bodmin and Wenford Railway, for a ride through the Cornwall countryside. Nearby there’s Lanhydrock, a National Trust property, the Eden Project at St. Austell, Padstow (Rick Stein seafood restaurants). Avgas available. Be careful of turbulence and downdraughts. Radio 120.330 www.cornwallflyingclub.com
Aviation LIGHT
Free Landing for October 2021 Easter Airfield 07967 715304
Set in a beautiful part of Scotland, near the lovely historic town of Tain, with superb local golf courses, walks and local B+Bs. PPR is important so please visit the website, as there are different procedures for the week and at weekends. Right next to RAF Tain range. Please avoid flying over all local buildings. No fuel available. Radio is 122.750 during the week and use Safety com 135.475 at weekends. www.easterairfield.co.uk
Aviation LIGHT
Free Landing October 2021 – Weekends only Sittles Farm, Lichfield, Staffs
Located in a lovely area of the countryside, Sittles Farm is near Lichfield in Staffordshire. PPR via the mobile numbers shown below and look at their website. Weekends only please when local flyers will be around. No fuel. Runways 09/27 are the preferred option. Look out for nearby powerlines. Phone Richard on 07773 777160. Sittles Radio is on 129.830 www.sittlesflyers.com.
Aviation LIGHT
Half Price Landing – with 20 Litres of fuel pickup St. Athan
With its 5,988ft long runway, there should be plenty of space for everyone! PPR please via admin@horizon-asl.com Opening times are 09:00-17:00. Frequency St Athan 118.125 and Cardiff Radar 119.150, Cardiff will pass you on to St. Athan. Located In Class D but no problem as they want people to visit. Ask St Athan Tower for directions to Horizon Aircraft Services who offer an interesting hanger to look at. Various ex-military aircraft and others are being readied to fly, with exotic types visible inside. www.horizonaircraftservices.com
36 | LIGHT AVIATION | July 2021
OCTOBER 2021
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Our Address: LX Avionics Ltd, Hangar 10, Turweston Aerodrome, BRACKLEY, NN13 5YD
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Classifieds
September
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: 20 September 2021 If you would like to place an aircraft for sale advert please see details below:
Flexible Aviation Finance* Specialist Lender Denny Kitfox Mk II, Rotax 912 UL. G-CRES. Built 1990 with total ground up rebuild 2019 to concours standard. TT airframe and engine 500 hrs. Permit to 23 October 2021. Email for photos and details. Trailer included. £20,000. Tel +353 (0)861 970131 iainfstr@gmail.com
GROUP FLYING
MEMBERS’ ADVERTISEMENTS Up to 30 words: £6; 31-50 words: £12 Up to 50 words with a coloured photo: £45
Whether you are: - Purchasing an aircraft - Carrying out upgrades - In need of maintenance Find out how Arkle could help to finance the cost so you can take to the skies once more.
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
Call now for details and a no-obligation quotation
Contact: Jay Lucas Direct Tel: 01933 304789 Mob: 07341 866056 Email: jl@arklefinance.co.uk Web: www.arklefinance.co.uk
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.
64 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Let Arkle help you get off the ground again
Lancair 320-Mk2, south Kent. 1-2 partners sought to finalise advanced high-standard refurbishment. Rare FAST aircraft, retractable, CS prop, AP, AoA indicator, VOR. Minimum PPL-A +100 hrs, IMC, complex types, aero-engines, GRE skills. £27k. Enquiries: vancleeff@hotmail.co.uk or 07714 455521
Waltham based/hangered RV6. Quarter share for sale. Built 2003, TT 850+ 160hp Eng 650+. 150kt cruise, 30 lph, 140 lts. Fixed Sensenich cruise prop. Dynon Skyview SE. Two-axis autopilot with auto level. Two iPad mini mounts with power. Trig Ty91 8.33 and Mode S with ADS-B out. PilotAware. Two Lightspeed Zulu headsets. PLB, cover, tie downs. £19,500. For further details contact Dave 07917 225013. Email davelisterc5@gmail.com
FOR ALL MEMBERS CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES CONTACT SHEILA
SHEILA.HADDEN@LAA.UK.COM
WWW.LAA.UK.COM
*Finance is subject to credit approval. Registered Address: 52-60 Sanders Road, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, NN8 4BX Arkle Finance Limited is registered in England & Wales Company No. 3398034 Authorised and Regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority ©Arkle Finance Limited 2019
GROUP FLYING
1/3rd share for sale in Perth based MTO3. Upgraded to 500kgs MTOW with RSll rotor head. Always hangered and professionally maintained. Great opportunity to be part of a small, friendly, well-run syndicate offering fun flying. £11,000 share, £20/hr dry and share monthly costs. Contact: GyroSyndicate@gmail.com
AIRCRAFT PROJECTS Tipsy Nipper rebuild project. A/C has been partly rebuilt to high standard, fuselage covered with ceconite, new engine, cowlings and propeller. Rudder, ailerons, tail plane, and elevator all recovered in ceconite and up to Nitrate stage. New canopy requires trimming and frame welded together. Wing requires re-covering and comes with tip tanks. Three panels complete with instruments. Project currently in Kent. £10.500 ono contact for further details:Ian 07980 170418 or email: flightline66@gmail.com
WANTED
COVERS
Wanted Arplast Ecoprop 174L 104/3. Three blades or complete. Tel. 07722 786187 email boxall.744@btinternet.com John Boxall.
PARTS & SERVICES Light Aircraft Weighing Service in East Yorkshire and surrounding area. For details contact Demraview Ltd. Email: Demraview@gmail. com Mob: 07984 810761. 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.
Sky Dynamics 4into1 exhaust collector system for Lycoming (A)IO360, full working order sounds awesome, lightweight and improves HP. £1500 inc VAT ono. Info@northwestaerobatics.co.uk
AIRCRAFT WEIGHING INSTRUMENTATION
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SERVICES & MORE
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SERVICES
TRANSPORTATION
Lima Zulu Services Ltd.
Aircraft Transportation Specialists Specialist vehicles to move your aircraft safely
limazuluservicesltd@gmail.com / 07713 864247 JAN 20
JULY 21
AS DELIVERED
HAPPY CHAPPY’S
LZSL thank the Chipmunk group for entrusting their baby to me for dressing. Add engineering by Steve Wood at Blackpool and paint by Paul Norris at Staverton
Result... See it out and about. Thanks again Tim.
66 | LIGHT AVIATION | September 2021
Telephone: 0121 327 8000 E-mail: info@ponsonby.co.uk Web: www.ponsonby.co.uk
Contact us now for a quotation
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