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
SCHOFIELDS FLYING CLUB NEWSLETTER - JUNE 2006
Welcome to the June 2006 edition of Schofields News. There are the usual plus some new features - President's Notes by Mike Allsop, Ask the CFI by Rodney Hyde, X-File X063 (Ro 58) by Anthony Coleiro, Flying the Tin Shed by Craig Hobart, Don't Expect any Cheap Tickets by John Lowing, On Being Checked to Line by Paul Daniels, My Night with Four Virgins by John Lowing, Wayne's World by Wayne Russell, A Day at Luskintyre by Peter Blackbourn, and the Last Word from Latrodectus. As well, there's the usual administrivia that you've come to expect. So, read on and enjoy!
Jabiru J-160 soon on Schoies line! NEW MEMBERS FOR MAY 2006: Welcome to Michael Livingstone, Bill Asmar, Roselia Silva, Jeannie Sainty, Paul Conroy and Brent Thompson.
APRIL DUTY PILOT DRAW: The Volunteer Duty Pilot Monthly Draw for April ($50 free flying) goes to Janina Galliani and John Ruming. Congratulations!
VALE, PIETER EBBELING: With sadness we report the death of Pieter Ebbeling recently after a long illness. Pieter was well known to many members of the Club where he was highly active and a senior Board Member over several years. Pieter played a central role in several Schofields Air Shows including the Australian Bicentennial Air Show in 1988.
JABIRU UPDATE: Because of a huge production backlog in the factory we won't have our Jabiru on line until late June. We've had a fabulous briefing and hand-over of CD-based materials plus great training aids from the supplier and, in the meantime, we're putting together a number of packages for ground and flight training which should be appealing to members. More details later in this Newsletter.
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 June and July 2006:
| Sat | 10 | June | Aviation Night - Roulette One (and his PC9) | Clubhouse |
| Sun | 11 | June | Darwin Flyaway returns | Bankstown |
| Mon | 12 | June | Queen's Birthday Holiday | |
| Sun | 18 | June | One Day Flyaway | TBA |
| Mon | 19 | June | Committee Meeting | Clubhouse |
| Sun | 25 | June | Club Competition | Warnervale |
| Sun | 25 | June | Last Light Drinks | Clubhouse |
| Sat | 01 | July | Interclub Competition | Dubbo |
| Mon | 17 | July | Committee Meeting | Clubhouse |
| Sun | 30 | July | Last Light Drinks | Clubhouse |
Mike Allsop
T oward the end of June we should expect delivery of our new Jabiru J-160 2 seat trainer. There has been a great demand for this basic design from the Jabiru factory in Bundaberg, both in kit and factory built forms, so our delivery "slot" has moved back a little. You may be interested to know that the particular configuration we are buying is uniquely adapted to the flying training role both for career pilots moving on to "glass" airliners as well for private pilots who are drawn to new technology and operating efficiency.
We are in the process of defining some training "packages" to accompany the introduction of the J-160. Of interest to current pilots, we will offer a "glass familiarisation" workshop and type familiarisation training to get you up and flying. We will also incorporate the J-160 into our basic training schemes. Once a number of us are familiar with the aircraft, we intend to also offer a more advanced workshop covering the in depth features of the glass panel which basic operations do not require. Sounds a bit like those features in Microsoft Word which you never use but you wish you could if only you knew!Some key aspects of interest:
- The aircraft is of all composite construction, and is extremely light and strong - the whole fuselage unit weighs less than 50kg in the raw
- It will carry a similar useful load to a Cessna 152 but has a max gross weight of only 540kg
- A small wing gives it a wing loading similar to a Warrior for good turbulence penetration characteristics (within reason of course!)
- With full tanks it has an endurance at cruise power of over 8 hours, cruising at 100 kts
- Ours is different from regular kit and factory Jabiru 2-seaters in that it has heavy duty undercarriage with wheels, tyres and brakes like a Cessna, a larger instrument panel with more instrumentation (glass), dual comms with transponder and, in a Jabiru first, will have full lighting for NVFR operations
- And of course the glass panel with large Electronic Flight Information Display (EFIS), Engine Management System (EMS) and GPS
Jabiru under construction This should prove to be a very capable aeroplane and we will consider acquiring additional of the type as we gain experience with the first one. The aircraft has excellent flying characteristics, and should be popular with all standards of student pilots and private pilots alike.
At the time of delivery a few of our instructors will do the necessary conversion onto this type (given by a Qantas training captain I might add), and we will be ready to go. Other instructors will come on stream with it shortly after.
Remember, this is a VH registered certified aircraft. Its design roots might be "ultralight" but the breed has evolved in a massive way. This model is perhaps the most advanced to be produced anywhere for a training market. With other licensing developments likely in the near future (eg recreational licence), this kind of aircraft will be ideally suited. We may even introduce an RAAus registered example if the training climate is suitable.
We'll keep you posted on developments during the month. In the meantime, keep flying!
Mike Allsop
President SFC
Rodney Hyde
Recently I had the opportunity to speak with pilots involved in the recent spate of runway incursions and discovered that increased cockpit workload contributed to these incidents. What I found is listed below:
- Two pilots had difficulty with the radio equipment;
- Three pilots misidentified their call sign;
- Three pilots where doing their post landing checks while holding short of the southern runway;
- Two pilots mistook the southern runway for one of the two parallel taxiways on the southern side;
- Three pilots misunderstood an air traffic control instruction.
Points (b) and (c) are connected. Avoid distracting yourself at a critical time when waiting for your clearance to cross a runway. Do not have your head (and thoughts) inside the cockpit - keep a lookout down runway and approach flight path, so when the tower clears you to cross, you already know it is clear to do so. I am in the process of educating all flight instructors to teach "you must leave the post-landing checks until you are clear of all active runways". All Schofields pilots should adopt this methodology so you will be well prepared by the time you come to do your Flight Review.Point (d) confirms, "old habits die hard". If you count the parallel lines from the new fence (and are used to turning when only one was left) then it is possible to commence the turn too early. Having turned, everyone recognises his or her mistake but too late as you are now committed to taxiing along the runway. Now that one of the parallel taxiways has been removed you should have it clear in your mind that you need to continue to the taxiway that runs along the fence.
The tower has developed a new procedure that may partially address point (e). When landing on runway 29R with a left exit you may be cleared to "[callsign] enter runway centre and roll through to the end". Your response should be "enter runway centre and roll through, [callsign]". Enter runway centre and roll through to the "T" intersection at the end - not just as far as the taxiway Y intersection - the tower expects you to go all the way to the end just as if you had been cleared to land on runway centre with a roll through. When you do it correctly, it helps out the tower as it get you out of their way without the need for further communications, it helps you get back quicker and might even save you some money, so everyone benefits.
Rodney Hyde
Chief Flying Instructor
I.M.A.M. Ro 58
T he Ro 58 built by Industrie Meccaniche e Aeronautiche Meridionali (I.M.A.M.) was intended for a multitude of roles; built as a long-range escort fighter, day and night bomber destroyer and close support fighter. The German Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin engined fighter heavily influenced its layout.
The Ro 58 was of all metal construction and powered by a pair of 1,175 hp Daimler-Benz DB 601A-1 12-cylinder inverted-V engines. A crew of two flew it.The aircraft was armed with five 20 mm cannons, three in the nose and two in the ventral pack. One prototype was built and this flew in early 1943. It proved to have exceptional handling qualities for an aircraft of its size with a maximum speed of 605 km/h and it was shown to be superior to the Messerschmitt Me 410.
One prototype was all that came of this aircraft as not long after testing began, Italy signed an Armistice with the allies and any further development was abandoned.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- The Complete Book of Fighters - William Green Gordon Swanborough
- War Planes of the Second World War Fighters Volume Two - William Green
I thought the Tin Shed was Craig's Aztec!
W ell it just wouldn't be Australian to fly a trip that wasn't the shape of a tin shed. Leaving in Early April to attend my youngest brother's wedding was the launching point for an Aussie Odyssey from Sydney taking us to Archerfield, Longreach, Birdsville, and Broken Hill before turning east again and home via Bankstown.
The planning started a few months ago, which adds to the build up to the trip of course, with the booking of accommodation, and the organising of rental cars etc in each port. We also arranged to have a 50 hourly inspection done, just prior to departure to ensure the mother ship was ready to go.Our aircraft for this mission was a Piper Aztec (VH- PFD) an aircraft we have owned and improved over a few years. This was what we bought her for, as the trip was to involve some long legs over remote Australia, and this is where the Aztec is in its element. With plenty of room, luggage capacity, Long range fuel tanks and good cruising performance, it makes the ideal family station wagon of the sky. Of course you want to go when and where you want to so two GPSs and an instrument rating thrown in for good measure makes the trip all the more enjoyable and less stressful (not to mention the use of a trusty autopilot).
So we left on a beautiful Sydney April morning, complete with fresh autumn air, clear skies and a gentle southerly not uncommon for Sydney at this time of the year.
Longreach and the Thomson in flood The weather forecast suggested the higher we were to fly the more the wind would push us to Queensland, so higher we went, levelling at 9000 feet and enjoying ground speed of 185 knots (we normally cruise at TAS 160 kts). This made the opening leg a short one, what normally takes 2.45 hours was completed well under 2.15 hours which was a good thing because I was required at St Lucia golf course to play around with my brothers and father, the day before my youngest brother's wedding. We made it with 11 minutes to spare so, on reflection, we could have taken a more scenic route.
The wedding went well as did our few days in Brisbane aided by great family accommodation at "Kirribilli" Apartments in New Farm near Sydney Street wharf, a short 5 minute ferry ride into the Brisbane CBD.
The day after the wedding we woke to a magnificent view of the CBD invaded by hot air balloons drifting across the skyline, one narrowly missing the new high rise building just opened in the CBD.
The day arrived when we were to depart for Longreach, and after refuelling (we were going to need all the fuel we could carry, with strong head winds and IFR conditions) taxied for take off. Even though Archerfield has SID procedures published, it seems unless it's actual IFR at the airport they don't like to use them (very relaxed in Queensland) which resulted in us having to get a clearance on the ground from Brisbane Radar (whom we couldn't raise) and then had to get Archerfield tower to relay for us anyway!
The flight was in really solid IFR conditions - we didn't actually see much ground or sky after about 20 minutes for over three hours! In fact we didn't see a horizon again until breaking through under cloud 15 miles from Longreach. We were greeted by the amazing sight of the Thomson River in flood and, on landing, found the wet had set in motion the plague of flies which follows a wet period in the bush.
...CONTINUED NEXT MONTH
Craig Hobart
Derek Fok - a perfect score
Congratulations to Derek Fok, a Schofields student who recently applied for pilot cadet entry into Cathay Pacific, and made it. Derek, 27, a qualified accountant and student of instructor John Lowing, was one of seven to make the grade out of a total of 4,500 plus candidates who applied at the latest intake.
"I told Derek constantly I was very positive about him making it. He had the right attitude, approach, skill, a will to succeed and, above all, a certain humility that makes him a realist and a nice guy, resulting in a very even temperament" John said."And I am truly very pleased for him, even though he won't be completing his training at Schofields. He was paying his own way and I reckon he was just looking for a cheap way to get his pilots licence", joked John.
Derek had not achieved his first solo when he went for his first round of grueling meetings, psych tests and Sim rides in Hong Kong, but had done so when he went for the flying component evaluation in Adelaide in a Grob.
Derek was very generous in acknowledging Schofields. "Huge thanks to you for getting me to this stage. Without your instruction over the last year I would have struggled to differentiate myself from the 4,500+ candidates - only 7 of us made it. I'm also happy to say that all that circuit work we did paid off during flight grading because I was the first person in CX flight grading history to score a perfect mark for my series of about 15 circuits in the Grob!", he enthused.
"He obviously didn't fly any wide circuits in the Grob!" remarked John "and he only flew five sessions of circuits."
"Derek starts his formal flight training in Adelaide in August and I asked him to let me know when he was flying his first PIC flight into Australia so I could get a ticket. I doubt it will be free, but I might get an upgrade."
One thing's for sure though. He has something others could learn from.
John Lowing
Flight Instructor
Paul Daniels
T he webmaster (who's always on the lookout for a Newsletter story) approached me a few weeks ago when I was in Sydney and asked if I could write an article about what I've been up to. I left the Club in early March to accept a position based in Dubbo with Air Link Airlines, a low capacity regional airline which has recently been purchased by Rex.
Air Link PA31 Chieftain
Airlink operate Piper Chieftains that operate to country airports in western NSW to a hub at Dubbo which then links with a Beechcraft 1900 service to Sydney.
The next step in the induction process is my line training, which involves flying with a company check and training pilot. I am basically operating under his watchful eye and he gives me tips and makes sure I operate in accordance with company procedures. The supervision required at this stage depends on satisfying company requirements and once I reach a safe and acceptable standard and have working knowledge of the company procedures the next step will be for me to be 'checked to line' in which I will undergo an operational check similar to a flight test on a normal scheduled company flight to ensure compliance to all company procedures. If all goes well on this check I will have been checked to line and will be able to fly company aircraft on RPT routes as the Pilot in Command.
Well, that's what I've been doing since I left Schoies! So, if you see me in my Chieftain, be sure to wave and say "Hi!" Meanwhile, enjoy our skies.
Paul Daniels
Erstwhile Flight Instructor
John Lowing
Friday the 12 May was a night I'll remember for a while..... I got to fly with four people who had never flown at night before. This was at the first of Schofield's sessions of winter night flying for 2006. It was a great night, fabulous flying conditions, and a nice atmosphere in the club with much chatter, laughter and a great feed.
But before I go any further I must give a huge vote of thanks to the volunteers who gave up their Friday night shenanigans in order that 28 of us could have a night of thorough enjoyment.So many, many thanks to Viv Blackbourn, Suzanne Arnel, and their helpers who put on a great spread of food - chicken, pasta, salads, vegetables and gravy (gotta have the gravy!) - together with an indulgence of desserts that would satisfy anyone. Without these people such nights would not be possible or as enjoyable.
Thanks also to the guys in the tower who gave us every help and consideration to make things work as smoothly as possible.
For me it was a very interesting night with, as I said, four of my charges flying at night for the first time. For those of you who may not know, a warrior is loaded up with three pilots and an instructor and off we go for three circuits each, changing over at the run-up bay.
Short final at night Following an abbreviated briefing, my first session was with three real gentlemen - David Jaffray, new member Harvey Prici, and Peter Jones. My second was with two ladies and a bloke - Marianne Searle, Leigh Brady and Alan Searle, the only one to have flown at night. Every one gave a very good account of themselves.
Marianne, who has not yet flown solo, was not able to fly with passengers but enjoyed the experience as a passenger and afterwards she reckoned she would prefer to continue her circuit training at night! Leigh got a go round on her first circuit (thanks to preceding wide traffic!), but accomplished it admirably and didn't let flying around Bankstown out of the normal circuit position at night phase her at all.
I had a great time, the only downside being that I couldn't have a glass of wine with dinner during the break. But thanks, Alan, for leaving me the one third of a glass of the dregs of your cheap red wine to enjoy when I got back from the second session!! I must say it went down a treat - the sink that is!
I'm looking forward to the next session of night circuits. Hope to see many of you there for some guaranteed fun.
John Lowing
Flight Instructor
Wayne Russell
Recently, I posed the question: many pilots uses the Met Bureau's Weather Radar when planning a flight. There's a line on the 128km range background map that extends from Marulan - Moss Vale - Western Sydney - Katoomba - Blackheath - past Lithgow -
Warragamba Catchment
Jenolan Caves and back to Marulan. What is the significance of this line? Correct answers had to get to me by Friday, 26 May to go into a draw for a mystery prize. Well, a total of 12 members managed to get the correct answer - they all went into a hat and one was drawn out by my XYL (my YF). The winner is John Ferris who wins one dozen Krispy Kreame Donuts. John should let me know which Saturday or Sunday he'll be at the Club and I'll get some fresh ones just for him!
THIS MONTH'S QUIZ: Why are we taught that whilst doing stalls we have to be recovered by 3000' AGL? Where does this number come from?
Correct answers received by Wayne Russell by Friday, 9 June will go into a draw for another mystery prize - winner(s) will be announced in the next Newsletter.
Wayne Russell
Flight Instructor
A Tiger Moth at Luskintyre
Luskintyre is a small airfield not far from Lochinvar in the Hunter Valley. Luskintyre Aviation Flying Museum (LAFM) is said to have the world's largest collection of Tiger Moths (DH-82A) in the one place - six are flying and more than a dozen are undergoing restoration.
An interesting fact from the museum tour was that Tigers can only be restored, not built new from plans, so you have to have an original machine to work from. There were certainly many examples of work in progress - check out the pictures linked to this article and you will see for yourself. You can expect to pay around $130,000 to restore a Tiger - at that price I'll take two!My day started at 7.30am when Viv and I drove to the Hunter Valley to provide transport for some of our members who flew to Maitland rather than Luskintyre. Our club ALA register currently places restrictions on aircraft type as well as POB to fly into Luskintyre and, as Viv prefers ground based transport, it worked in well.
A bonus for me while waiting for the arrival of our "Schoies Squadron" was being treated to the process of starting a Tiger by hand at Maitland.
Hand-starting a Tiger at Luskintyre This is certainly a regimented procedure with hand cranking to prime the engine - this was done counter clockwise - and then finally the actual startup which took only two flicks of the wooden prop to bring the engine to live. What a sight; what a sound!
It was a quick drive from Maitland to the LAFM airfield and our host Jamie Campbell could not have done more to ensure our day was one to remember. Not only had he organised lunch for our party of more than 20, but was our tour guide for the inspection of the different areas of the site. These included the extensive workshop where all the restorations "work in progress" really brought out the mechanical boys in the group.
Another bonus for me on the day was having a ride in an RV4, VH-PTT. This beauty is owned and flown by club member Richard Pincus and this flight allowed me to see how great Luskintyre looks from the air. What did make this a truly memorable occasion was when Richard decided a few unusual attitudes would be a good idea - a few rolls and loops brought back memories of my Decathlon flying. Pleased to say I had the video camera with me and this is now on DVD that can be viewed when next you are at the club. In between time tigers were strutting their stuff and it was really a case of plane sailing. At around 15:00 it was time to head south and our members who flew in flew out and those who landed at Maitland headed back for the journey home.
This is one of the best vintage aviation places I have been to and being so close to Sydney it's a real gem. So when next we visit Luskintyre hopefully you can join us either flying or even driving - it's certainly worth the visit. Check out their website at www.luskintigers.com.au.
Finally a special thanks to Nelson Crawshaw for organizing a great activity as well as all those at Luskintyre for a wonderful day.
Peter Blackbourn
Director of Club House Services & Events
CANCELLING SARTIME: Most of us have been guilty of forgetting to cancel our SARTIME after we land due to the distraction of securing the aircraft and talking to passengers about the great time we had. This is one way that I have found to reduce this risk and save the embarrassment of a phone call. As soon as you submit your flight plan set you mobile phone alarm to remind you five or ten minutes before your SARTIME. This has saved me more than once in the past. I also have the CENSAR number programmed into my phone. It is simple but quite effective. (Submitted by John Lowing).
VIRTUAL TEMPERATURE: In a system of moist air, the temperature of dry air having the same density and pressure as the moist air is called the virtual temperature. So virtual temperature is an adjustment applied to the real air temperature to account for a reduction in air density due to the presence of water vapour. The formal definition of virtual temperature is the temperature that dry air would have if its pressure and specific volume were equal to those of a given sample of moist air. As an added bonus, virtual temperature allows meteorologists to use the equation of state for dry air even though moisture is present. Just in case you wanted to know!
RESTRICTED VFR: This phrase does not always refer to marginal weather conditions. It is a method used by ATC to notify VFR aircraft that something out of the ordinary is happening within the Control Zone. What may be confusing is that most of the time this is broadcast on the ATIS in times of marginal weather. However, the occurrence of an incident that closes a runway may require restrictions to be placed on VFR aircraft due to the loss of the runway. So Restricted VFR may be used for many reasons and not just during times of marginal weather.
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: Those who hoot with the owls by night, should not fly with the eagles by day.
Latrodectus
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