Schofields Flying Club Ltd - 1 Tower Road Bankstown Airport 2200
(PO Box 200, Georges Hall, NSW 2198 AUSTRALIA)
Phone: +61 2 9773 3611 Email: mail@schofields-flying-club.com.au
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SCHOFIELDS FLYING CLUB NEWSLETTER - JANUARY 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Welcome to the January 2006 edition of Schofields News. There are the usual plus some new features - President's Notes by Mike Allsop, X-File X058 (Vickers 432) by Anthony Coleiro, Tips, Tips & More Tips by Paul Daniels, Competition & Sports Flying by John Hook, Ponderings & Reflections by Sheri Crawshaw, Ask the CFI by Rodney Hyde, About a First Solo by Peter Johnson, A Few Words from Greg Clark, Have You Applied for Your ASIC Yet? by Mike Allsop, and The Last Word from Latrodectus. As well, there's the usual administrivia that you've come to expect. So, read on and enjoy! 
NOVEMBER DUTY PILOT DRAW: The Volunteer Duty Pilot Monthly Draw for November ($50 free flying) goes to Steve Penfold and George Catchpoole. Congratulations!NEW MEMBERS FOR NOVEMBER: Welcome to Brendan Bourke, Kevin Novini, Ian Anderson, Steven Liney, Michael Whiteside, Mark Lemesurier and Andres Czajkowski. NEW MEMBERS FOR DECEMBER: Welcome to Johanna Barrett, Karen Edwards, Leonie Mazumdar, Peter Harris, Craig McGregor, Joseph Fayyad, Mike Parer, Leigh Brady and Cameron McCauley. DARWIN FLYAWAY 2006: A reminder that should you be interested in joining the flyaway to Darwin in June 2006, deposits of $250 per person need to be paid to the Club no later than 31 Dec so that organiser Rae Cauchi (contact details : 0403 017 535) can book numbers for tours and accommodation. More... ONLINE GPS TRAINING: A link to some new AOPA Air Safety Foundation Garmin GNS 430/530 training material, including a Tutorial and a downloadable Cockpit Reference Guide (498kB pdf), is now available on our Downloads page. DIARY DATES: The Club has a number of social and flying activities planned for 2006. You can check full details on our Coming Events page. Below is a summary of the programme for January and February 2006:
MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS: For our Flying Members whose membership is due on Jan 1 will have received a renewal notice in the mail. If you renew your membership by 31 January 2006 you will automatically enter a draw for 1 hours flying in Warrior SFK. You can renew your membership on-line or you can download a renewal form (16kB pdf) that you can fax or mail back to the Club. PRICING AND REWARD SCHEMES FOR 2006: The Committee has released details (6kB pdf) of new pricing and rewards schemes that will be introduced from the start of 2006. The aim is to be super-competitive on value, not just price. LAST LIGHT DRINKS is a new social activity introduced by the Clubhouse & In-house Events sub committee for members and their guests to join together with some of our committee members on the last Sunday of each month. It is an opportunity to discuss flying at an operational and social level and see the changes that are taking place at the club. Drinks are available from our newly licensed bar, with complimentary savories served. It's a couple of hours of social intercourse with an aviation theme we can all enjoy. From 17:00 to wind up around 19:00. Come and join us on January 29. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As you know, the General Aviation industry is facing a number of pressures from the regulatory environment, the wider economy and from the specifics of airfield operating rentals and charges. Our corner of the world is not immune from these pressures, and you would have read a lot about the impacts felt by capital city GA. At Schofields Flying Club we run a business just like anyone else. We are here to provide attractive services to you, our members, and to ensure the sustainability of our operation in its trading environment. As part of this we have revised some aspects of our aircraft pricing effective 1 January 2006. You will notice also that our Membership Fees have also been revised. This note serves to give you a bit of background to these changes, and also to advise some good news in the extension of various "reward" offers to you.FLYING RATES: Did you realise that our base rates for Archer SFR, Warrior SFK and Arrow JRY have been maintained at current levels since February 2003? Our "blue tail" Warrior and Cessna rates have been in place since June 2002. From Jan 1 2006 the "blue tail" aircraft will increase in base private hire rate by a modest $5/hr. Our "new" Warrior SFK will increase by $10/hr - still great value. On the positive side, the base private hire rates for Archer SFR and Arrow JRY will remain unchanged, as will be the case for most of our on-line aircraft. 
One effect this has is to equalise the private hire rates for SFR and SFK - both IFR aircraft with modern GPS equipment. The Arrow is full IFR with GPS and is a small step up the price scale to enable you to upgrade to CS/retractable economically and get the advantages of this great touring aircraft. If it is cheap flying you want, our little Cessna JGJ at $125/hr private hire is huge value for an aircraft looking "as new". You can choose to stay current or just do some regular flying in the Cessnas - they are perfectly capable GA types and fine for a scenic with you and 1 passenger. Ever tried it?
The fuel levy process has helped us keep rental rates low while accommodating the massive volatility that these costs have shown over the last few years. This will continue unchanged.Instructor rates will increase across the board by $6/hr, reflecting recent movements in their award. We have a great group of instructors and we want you to have the benefit of their dedication. VETAB rates will change in proportion to the above for those of you enrolled in full training courses. 
MEMBERSHIP FEES: From 1 January 2006 Annual Flying Membership will move to $175. This helps us keep the rental rates modest, and of course the more you fly the more you benefit. Outstation Membership moves up a little to $50 - remember to come and visit when you are in town folks, it is always good to maintain the relationship. We have been able to hold our Associate Membership at $30 to recognise those members who are pleased to be part of our community yet not active in flying.For our Flying Members whose membership is due on Jan 1, if you renew your membership by 31 January 2006 you will automatically enter a draw for 1 hours flying in Warrior SFK. REWARD SCHEMES: We know you like to fly and we also know that you would like to fly more often and do the occasional trip. We would like to give you a "reward" for doing just that by making a contribution to your flying account at Schofields Flying Club. That way you can reduce the "out of pocket" for some future flights. How does it work you ask? There are 3 ways :
Current schemes for Club-only aircraft are superseded by the above. We will not be offering a discount to new pre-payments but those who have already prepaid can continue to use the original terms of course. FINALLY: You will have seen that we have tried to combine modest increases in our flying rates with benefits for you when you fly. Your membership provides a great Club atmosphere with all the support services and trimmings to make the flying experience for you and your passengers as enjoyable and convenient and possible. We aim to be super-competitive on value, not just price, and we hope to keep it that way for you. We look forward to having you with us in 2006. Until next time, keep flying! Mike Allsop President SFC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
During 1940, the RAF became concerned that the Luftwaffe might conduct high altitude operations over England, well out of reach of current fighters. To counter this possible threat, a specification was drawn up for a high-altitude interceptor with a pressurised cabin. Vickers tended their design, the 432. This aircraft evolved from an earlier aircraft that Vickers had been working on, the type 414.The legendary Dr. Barnes Wallis (from bouncing bomb fame) was responsible for the project. The 432 was the first Vickers aircraft to be completely constructed from stressed skin. The fuselage was a streamlined tube shape and the radiators for the pair of 1,560 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin 61 V12-cylinder liquid cooled engines were buried within the wings. The pilot sat in a small pressure vessel with his head protruding into hinged double glazed dome through which the pilot gained access to the cockpit. Unofficially the aircraft was called the Mayfly. 
Ground handling trials revealed that the aircraft was difficult to handle with its snaking tendency. Shifting the main wheels aft rectified this problem.The aircraft took to the air on 24 December 1942 and once in the air the aircraft performed beautifully. The landing was something else though. It proved impossible to three-point land. This problem was solved by replacement of the ailerons and alteration to the tail settings. Westland was also competing to fill the same specification with their Welkin fighter. Even though the 432 was significantly faster than the Welkin, it was not chosen for production and the Westland Welkin was the winning contender. The aircraft flew until December 1944 testing the wing structure before it was finally scrapped along with a second prototype, which was still under early construction. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS War Planes of the Second World War. Fighters Volume Two - William Green The Complete Book of Fighters - William Green Gordon Swanborough Anthony Coleiro | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
That's it for this month until next time enjoy our skies. Paul Daniels Flight Instructor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CLUB COMPETITION ROUND 4: Persistence paid off for us, and after wet weather cancellations in September and October, we finally got to Warnervale on 6th November. The cloud base was low, forcing us to lower the ceiling for the instrument climb. New instructor Kim Rowell was introduced to the frights and delights of the glide approach to Runway 20 - namely those trees on final. Nonetheless when Peter Cunningham had a bad hair day and landed short of the runway on the glide, he wasn't marked unsafe. Peter won the Instrument Climb with a perfect score, John Carswell won the Glide approach and Alan Drury won the blind circuit and spot landing and was first overall with 254 points. John Hook was second overall with 209 and Ray Hand third with 203. We welcomed Colin Mead to his first competition and that he had to go around on the glide is one reason why we welcome you, our club members, to improve your emergency skills by flying competition circuits - without regular practice, judgment of the glide is easily lost.NSW INTERCLUB: What a great day for SFC at the NSW Interclub Armidale 19th November! With the presence of President Mike Allsop we were once again recognised as Schofields Flying Club and got these results:
EVENTS FOR 2006: With only 4 rounds last year, our special two-circuit competition at Bankstown Sunday 15th January will decide the overall results for 2005. Please ring the club to give it a go - it's for the early risers as we start around 6:00am and finish by 8:30am. Look out for our first club competition at Warnervale, probably Sunday 19th February. A new calendar will be posted on the web site shortly, in the meantime you may be interested to know that as a member of Central Coast Aero Club I'll be attending a meeting on Sunday 22nd January re the possible sale and relocation of Warnervale. Let us certainly hope the airport can continue operation on the Central Coast because it's the best venue for our competitions - with Cooranbong closing it's a long drive to Cessnock or Maitland, and the M7 has made Warnervale that much closer to western Sydney. I hope to see more of you there in 2006. John Hook | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CLUB T-SHIRT AND CAP: If you haven't already noticed, we now have new T-shirts and Caps on sale at Reception. The high quality short sleeved polo shirts are navy blue with the Club logo embroidered above the left hand breast pocket, and sell for $35.
The 100% cotton Caps are also navy blue, and can be adjusted to fit all sizes. The Caps have a round Club logo on the front and are $15.If we don't have your size in stock, don't worry we can order it in for you! CHRISTMAS DRINKS! December 10th saw about 50 members and guests arrive at the Club for Christmas Drinks and Nibbles. Several keen photographers prowled through the crowd and snapped pictures of all and sundry enjoying the company of fellow flyers and their partners. Check out Peter Johnson's photos from the evening in the Photo Gallery. Many a fine story and a cleansing ale were shared throughout the night and Christmas cheer abounded. THANK YOU VIVIANNE! Most of you have attended one of our social gatherings or presentation nights at the Club, at one time or another and throughout the night you would have enjoyed some of the wonderful fare we now have on offer. But do you know who is behind most of the hard work and preparation for the occasion? It's Vivianne Blackbourn! 
Vivianne works in the office at the Club three days a week with Suzanne, but for a special Schoies function, she spends hours creating the right menu, shopping for ingredients, baking, freezing and pre-cooking dishes and finally packaging and transporting platters and boxes full of goodies to the Club - all done on a voluntary basis.The work doesn't finish there, once at the Club Vivianne usually unpacks, sets out the courses, and begins cooking in earnest - all this in between arranging flowers, setting tables, lighting candles, folding napkins and helping with problems that arise at Reception. Of course there is a small army of workers who help once the gear is at the Club, and these include Helen Smith, Lorraine Whiteman, Sheri Crawshaw, Amy Blackbourn and Mathew Ingram. The night usually finishes for Vivianne well after the crowds have left - the tables and chairs are put back in place, money counted and a "sausage reconciliation" completed! We really do appreciate all your effort, you have taken our functions to a new level - thank you Vivianne. Sheri Crawshaw Director - Marketing & Promotions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It's a brand new year and you have promised yourself you will get back into flying this year. If it has been a while do you need an AFR? What's an AFR? It's the common name given to a "Flight Review" that falls due every two years so it's sometimes called a "Biennial Flight Review". If a "Flight Review" is required then you will need the appropriate one dependant upon your level of licence. For PPL it's CAR 5.81, CPL it's CAR 5.108 and ATPL it's CAR 5.169.Note that a PIFR flight review is CAR 5.17A and in itself does not necessarily cover you for a regular flight review unless the instructor who conducted it also did the extra components of a regular AFR and has made an entry in your logbook to that effect. So what can you expect when you do your AFR? THE GROUND COMPONENT: You can expect to get questions on the following: 
THE FLIGHT COMPONENT: Although the circumstances may vary, typically the flight time for an AFR is about 1.5 to 1.7 hours. You will depart Bankstown on a navex to say Goulburn via Wollongong or Cessnock via Warnervale. Along the way to the first landing point your instructor acts like a passenger. Circuits at the first destination, then on the way to the second you will get a diversion sort of back towards Bankstown but into an area to get high enough for the upper air work component, steep turns/stalls/unusual attitudes. Expect some IF on the way home and an engine failure at some stage. SMARTY PANTS QUESTION: The very astute may have noticed I left one thing out of the flow chart. There is another way to satisfy the AFR requirements. What is the other way not mentioned in the above flow chart? The first person to email me the correct answer with all the conditions gets public credit for it in the next newsletter. [Hint: its in the CARs] Until next time, safe flying. Rodney Hyde Chief Flying Instructor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finally, after several months of waiting, Howard walked in to the Club with a fresh, off the press, new release Student Pilot Licence in his hot little mit. We had recently completed the Pre Solo Exam and all the paper work was in order. It all reminded me of the time that we thought everything was right for a dual session of circuits, but there was this little spark plug that had a small lump of lead across the gap. These things happen from time to time, the run-ups didn't go according to plan, so we didn't go according to plan either. Or the other time, when we were sitting in the aeroplane when we got hit by a 25kt wind gust. Our eyes met and we agreed that this was supposed to be fun, and not a life threatening experience. Oh, we'd have got down OK, I think! The instructor, me, is not a wimp but there are times when it is really better to be on the ground drinking coffee, wishing you were flying, than in the air wishing you were on the ground drinking coffee. You have to know when to hold 'em, when to fold 'em and when to get the hell out of there.
The day dawns bright with a pea soup fog. Time for a chat and yet another cuppa. Eventually it becomes restricted VFR with information Charlie.It really is quiet at Bankstown and limited circuit training is now available. It seems to be improving so let's give it a shot. There is nothing like poor visibility to encourage a tight circuit, you see you have to, otherwise you lose the big paddock with the three remaining bits of bitumen. (Ever diminishing. Do you notice how the fences are getting closer. It wont be long now, can you believe there used to be an airport here somewhere, yeah it used to be number five in the world). Hey this is about Howard's first Solo, woops, sorry I forgot. Anyway, Howard took me for a ride. He frightened me so much that I decided I didn't want to go around and around and around any more, so I hopped out. Fortunately we were over the river at the time. No!, No! Not really! Visibility improved a little more and Howard Elsey was flying like a real pro. I amended his touch and go to a full stop over the radio and instructed Howard to exit the runway. We had a brief discussion where I said, "Would you like to do a circuit on your own?" and he said, "Yes I would!" A short briefing was given on the effect of losing the Instructor's mass. Aeroplanes actually fly better without Instructors. It was all good, so, Folks, I would like to welcome Howard to that group of people that have flown an aircraft all by themselves. Peter Johnson Flight Instructor and Club Paparazzo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I guess you are wondering what has been happening to me. Sorry it has taken so long to write - pretty slack I know!! Flying has been going well, have been doing a lot more than expected. Have done 60 odd hours since being here, most has come in the past six weeks or so. A lot of away trips (Adelaide, Bendigo [had coffee with the pilot (Bendigo Aviation) from that Chieftain accident at Condoblin whilst I was there], Woomera, Ceduna, Forrest, Tjuntjuntjarra (WA), Pipilyatjarra, Umuwa, Ayres Rock, etc.) On one flight (YFRT - YNUB - YCDU) had a ground speed of 225 knots!!!Had a check ride at Aboriginal Air a couple of weeks ago. All went very well. Am on a sort of hold for a start in late January or within the next couple of months after that depending on requirements. Have caught up with John Neale. He is moving on from Aboriginal Air to fly Twin Otters for Regional Pacific up on Horn Island early next year. Caught up and had dinner with Darren and Jean when they passed through town; it was good to see a couple of familiar faces. Moved from my first place into a dugout last week. It is one of the tourist display homes and am in here as sort of a caretaker whilst it is closed over the summer months. Pay very minimal rent and a fixed fee for power and water. This place is fantastic, it has an indoor pool, pool table, fully furnished, etc. Jean took a few photos of the dugout, I asked her to pass a couple on to the club. One of my part time jobs to supplement the flying income is working for the Rex agent in town. I do check-in and manifest at the airport (only one flight per day).I am getting to know a number of the Rex crews and making lots of good contacts for the future. Am hoping to see Paul McKimmie and Alan Drury out here sometime over the Christmas / New Year week. Will be coming to Sydney on the 5th of January for a couple of weeks. I will try to make time to call into the club and catch up. Meanwhile, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All! Greg Clark | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
There has been a lot of comment and confusion regarding the introduction of Aviation Security Identification Cards (ASICs) for private pilots. This item will clarify some questions many members have had regarding the requirements and timing for these cards. 
The nub of it is that for most of us as private or commercial pilots wishing to fly to a destination which has an RPT service (eg Orange, Wagga etc) we will be required to carry an ASIC on our person whilst airside at that airfield. We MUST have this, even if just stopping for fuel. Our passengers are our responsibility to shepherd to groundside, and do not need anything special themselves.CASA and DoTARS had indicated 1 January 2006 as the introduction date for mandatory ASICs for us, but they have now extended that to 31 March 2006 provided we have lodged the application by 31 December 2005. So how do we get one of these things? Give CASA a call on 1300 737 032 or go to their website www.casa.gov.au to get the form. For most of us there are two possibilities :
Mike Allsop President SFC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FEEDBACK AND CONTRIBUTIONS: Well, that's your Newsletter for tis month. With help (in the form of contributions) it might be possible to continue to produce a newsletter every month. Don't forget to check the latest news on the Club's website at www.schofields-flying-club.com.au. Contributions, comments, feedback, and suggestions to latrodectus@schofields-flying-club.com.au. THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH: Gravity never loses! The best you can hope for is a draw!
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With a gusty wind, you have a 50% chance the wind will die at the point of touch down, but this can lead to sudden drop in IAS as well as decreases in the x-wind. A rule of thumb says to add half the gust factor to your approach speed. If the wind was gusting 20 knots in the Warrior, your new approach speed would be 70 + 10 = 80 KIAS.© 2003 Schofields Flying Club Ltd. All Rights Reserved.