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 - NOVEMBER 2007
Welcome to the November 2007 edition of Schofields News. There are the usual plus some new features -
President's Notes by Mike Allsop,
Ask the CFI by Patrick Watson,
X-File X080 (Nakajima J5N1 Tenrai) by Anthony Coleiro,
Removing Schoies flag pole to transport to
our new Birch St location. The move is on! Midweek Circuits at Bankstown by Peter Blackbourn, Tassie Flyaway 2006 (Day 14) by Mike Allsop, Secondary Surveillance Radar compiled by Latrodectus, 2007 Opal Tour (Day 12) by Bill Larkin, and The Last Word from Latrodectus. As well, there's some of the usual administrivia that you've come to expect. So, read on and enjoy!
Removing Schoies flag pole to transport to
our new Birch St location. The move is on! Midweek Circuits at Bankstown by Peter Blackbourn, Tassie Flyaway 2006 (Day 14) by Mike Allsop, Secondary Surveillance Radar compiled by Latrodectus, 2007 Opal Tour (Day 12) by Bill Larkin, and The Last Word from Latrodectus. As well, there's some of the usual administrivia that you've come to expect. So, read on and enjoy!
OCTOBER NEW MEMBERS: Welcome to Will Stamatopoulos, Richard Andrew, Edward Gloster and Serge Vidal. Prospective new members of the Club can download a Membership Application Form (174kB pdf) here. Note that it is still necessary for new members to attend the Club in person with photo identification before applications can be processed.
OCTOBER DUTY PILOT DRAW: The Volunteer Duty Pilot Monthly Draw for October ($50 free flying) goes to Peter Jones and Colin Phelps. The Club appreciates the efforts our tireless band of volunteers generously give in helping their Club and this is one small way of saying thank you!
PALM TREES FOR SALE: Here is an opportunity for SFC members to purchase one or all of our beautiful palm trees. Expressions of interest will be accepted up to close of business on Friday, 23 November 2007. In the event that no member submits an offer by the closing date, the sale will be open to the general public. More...
SURPLUS INVENTORY FOR SALE: Schofields Flying Club will soon be relocating to new premises in Birch Street, on the north-eastern side of Bankstown aerodrome. Various surplus items of inventory will not be relocated and, over the coming months, we will provide information to members on items and item groups to be sold.
David Bettridge The first item group for sale is the portable, air-conditioned classrooms. More...
FIRST SOLO: Congratulations to David Bettridge (pictured, left) who was sent first solo by Instructor Tomislav Blazevic on 30 October.
CHRISTMAS PARTY: It's that time of the year again! With our move to the northern side of the airport not far away this will be the last time Santa will visit us at our Tower Road Clubhouse. So make a note in your diary now so you don't miss our last major social activity at what has been home to Schoies for some 12 years. More...
THEORY COURSES FOR 2008: In 2008 we will be offering a wide spectrum of Pilot aviation theory courses. There will be a course for everyone regardless of your stage of flying. If any of the courses interests you, please contact the Club to enrol. Courses will be held in our new large air-conditioned classrooms in our new Clubhouse in Birch Street at Bankstown airport. More...
DIARY DATES: The Club has a number of social and flying activities planned for 2007. You can check full details on our Coming Events page. Below is a summary of the programme for November and December 2007:
| Sat | 03 | November | NSW Interclub Competition Round 3 | Young |
| Sun | 04 | November | Aeroplane Flight Review Course | Clubhouse |
| Mon | 19 | November | Committee Meeting | Clubhouse |
| Sun | 25 | November | Last Light Drinks | Clubhouse |
| Sat | 15 | December | Christmas Party Special Guest: Peter 'Topper' Tippner Details | Clubhouse |
| Mon | 17 | December | Committee Meeting | Clubhouse |
| Tue | 25 | December | Christmas Day Public Holiday | |
| Wed | 26 | December | Boxing Day Public Holiday | |
| Sun | 30 | December | Last Light Drinks | Clubhouse |
Mike Allsop
Sorry I have missed adding my notes to the newsletter over the last month or two - I have been away from Sydney on business for some time. No excuse I hear you say, that's why God invented email. OK, you've got me. Thanks to John Young and Peter Blackbourn for filling in.
As usual, a lot has been happening around the Club. We are ramping up our ground training as foreshadowed a couple of months back, beginning with one day courses such as GPS, AFR etc. You will see schedules for various BAK, PPL, CPL etc. courses very soon, along with PIFR and CIR. This is in addition to the continuing option for self study by those good on the books. We should meet all requirements for offering Instructor Ratings again very shortly, so if that is where you are heading, stay posted. As far as facilities are concerned, our new clubhouse is progressing well, and will provide us with excellent training rooms when completed in January. In the meantime you may have noticed we are starting to advertise our portable classrooms for sale prior to the move. Members first, so they say, so call Nelson if you are interested in these well cared for portables. Other stuff will be advertised later in the year.
On the new site, our relocation subcommittee has been very diligent in keeping things to schedule with our contractors, and addressing any matters arising promptly. Their immediate attention is now on aircraft parking arrangements over that side - what parked where, standing on what etc etc. We would expect to see some airside earthworks improvements well before we move, but don't expect to see solid concrete or bitumen covering the site. Our plans will ensure that the solution provides a far better surface than we currently have, while meeting various BAL requirements. That's the plan anyway!
We have had a lot of demand on our aircraft especially over the weekends recently. To provide additional capacity we are cross-hiring Warriors from UNSW which works well for both of us. Demand is especially high after periods of wet weather when we are playing catch-up for you.
Archer VH-SFR (photo: Marcus Dale) We are also investigating additions to our fleet either on permanent cross-hire or acquired directly. Archers are in great demand for cross country work, so we are looking at that angle for you in particular. An easy step up from Warriors, with a straightforward checkout all that is required. Have you tried SFR? A great aircraft. We are still looking at a few options for twins as well so that we can get around the current bottlenecks on supply. Anyone got a well presented, well equipped Duchess or Seminole they would like to put with us? We will not accept "scrappy" equipment unlike some other operators - we believe in good value at a fair price, not poor value at a low price. Give me a call or drop me an email with your thoughts on multi-engine training and private hire.
Finally, there is a fair bit of activity ramping up also in the planning of future flyaways. Whether long or short, these are a fabulous experience. There is also a lot of fun to be had travelling in company with other aircraft and sharing the planning decisions etc. Great for the experienced and less experienced pilots alike, not to mention the enjoyment our passengers get out of it. Please come and be part of the various discussion sessions to be held over coming weeks where a programme of events will be formulated with your input and feedback. In addition to "Club" events, we encourage any members to take a trip whenever they like, perhaps sharing the aeroplane with another member of even travelling with a couple of aircraft in company. You'll really enjoy it - just ask the numerous overseas visitors we have had recently!
The Board members look forward to hearing any ideas or suggestions you might have regarding any aspects of Club activity. It is YOUR Club, and we want it to be the best it can be for you.
See you out there sometime this month. Safe flying.
Mike Allsop
President SFC
Patrick Watson
RADIOS: Have you ever been in the situation, where you are at the holding point calling "ready" and the Tower won't answer? Or you can hear the Tower calling you, but you can't contact them? Have you ever been embarrassed by the Tower telling you to go back to the Run-up area and "sort out your radio!"? Or even worse - "Go back to your flying school and get an instructor to show you how to use the radio"? We have had a spate of these problems lately - this article may help. If not, consult me or your favourite instructor.
The solution is simple - and here are a few simple rules to ensure this embarrassing situation doesn't happen to you. Be assured, I have a great deal of sympathy for you - especially if you are one of the increasing number of pilots who do not fly as often as you would like, and you find yourself booked in an aeroplane with some new and unfamiliar radio gear.
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The confusion arises when you are trying to multi-task - concentrating on handling the aeroplane, switching the receiver from one radio to the other, and switching the microphone from one radio to the other and finally controlling volume. Or perhaps you are listening on one radio and transmitting on the other?
This is the Audio Control Panel - usually located on top of the radio stack. This is what you would see if you pushed the TEST button - all of the green lights would be on as well as the Marker lights. Push the buttons to turn all off, except Com 1.
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Use one radio only (say Com 1) |
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Ensure the Mic is on Com 1 |
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Ensure the receiver is on Com 1 |
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Finally TEST the volume level |
If you can't hear anything with the volume turned up, and RX appearing in the window, then you don't have the correct COM selected on the Audio Control Panel.
INTERCOM: Ever had trouble with the intercom? Passengers can't hear you? You can't hear your passengers? Continuous noise in your headset?
All intercom boxes have two (or more) controls - a volume control and a squelch control. The volume control obviously controls the volume - clockwise to increase and counter-clockwise to decrease.
The tricky bit is the squelch control. The squelch controls the threshold level at which noise will activate the system. The noise could be caused by the engine, wind, your passenger's screams or your voice. You must adjust the squelch so that your voice will activate the system. You do this by turning the squelch knob.
To increase the sensitivity, some units require you to turn the knob clockwise, others counter-clockwise.
Another type of intercom - this one appears to cause lots of trouble - is built in to the Garmin GMA340 Audio Control Panel. This is fitted to a number of Club aeroplanes. Here are some features of this intercom.
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Turning the squelch control COUNTER-clockwise increases sensitivity. |
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The outer knob is the squelch control, the inner is the volume. |
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There are separate controls for Pilot and Co-pilot. |
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You can isolate the passengers so that they cannot hear the crew conversation, or so that the pilot can communicate with ATC without being interrupted by excited passengers. |
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You can adjust the passenger volume by pulling the co-pilot volume control knob, then use the same knob to adjust the volume. Don't forget to push it in again afterwards. |
LAST MONTH'S QUESTION: Last month, I posed the following question:
You are lucky enough to score a prestigious, highly paid (boring?) job as a customs pilot conducting coastal patrol along the Western Australian coastline in a sophisticated 200 knot turbo-prop aeroplane.
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Your tasks are to:
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determine a heading to intercept the aircraft in the quickest possible time; |
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calculate the earliest ETA at which the intercept would occur; |
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calculate the distance the unidentified aircraft would have travelled since 0100 UTC when you intercept it. |
This proved a very popular question with just about everyone getting the right answer. I'll try to think of some similar questions for the future. If you have any favourite question that might be suitable, please send it along. If you have any aviation mysteries you'd like solved or discussed, please send them to me.
The first with a correct answer was Ken Carroll closely followed by Russell Cameron. Here is the solution. It may be solved by trigonometry or graphically.
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| Therefore (Pythagoras) y² = 60² + x² | (1) |
T = x ÷ 120 for Target; T = y ÷ 200 for Patrol aircraft
| Therefore y = 200x ÷ 120 | (2) |
(200x ÷ 120)² = 60² + x²
Solve for x, gives x = 45
Therefore T = 45 ÷ 120 hour = 22.5 minutes.
Heading to Intercept, from tan (th) = 45 ÷ 60; th = 36.8 degrees
Answers
1. Heading to Intercept 037º M
2. Earliest ETA 0123 UTC
3. Distance travelled by the target 45 nm
THIS MONTH'S QUESTION: It is a fact that, if you lower any flap, both lift and drag increase. Drag always increases more than lift. Therefore the lift/drag ratio decreases. The take-off Performance Charts for the Cessna C152 show 10º flap and 54 Knots. The Manual and performance charts state that for best angle of climb, you should climb at 54 knots and use 10o flap. If the use of flaps decrease the lift/drag ratio, how then can we get better climb gradient with 10º of flap extended?
Until next month, Happy Flying.
Patrick Watson CP/CFI
Anthony Coleiro
As the tide of the Second World War in the Pacific was beginning to turn against the Japanese, the Nakajima aircraft company designed the J5N1 Tenrai (Heavenly Thunder). It was intended to counter the possible threat of B-29 Superfortress bombers over homeland Japan. The J5N1 was meant to replace the Nakajima J1N1-S Gekko long-range escort fighter then in service. Initially, the Tenrai was designed as a single-seater, but the two last prototypes were built as two-seaters. The aircraft was intended for service with the Japanese Naval Air Force (JNAF).
Nakajima strove for simplicity with this aircraft with as few as possible components; ease of assembly and simplified maintenance procedures was at the forefront. The aircraft was an all-metal; low-mid-wing monoplane powered by a pair of 1,990 hp Nakajima NK9H Homare 21 eighteen-cylinder radial engines driving four-blade constant speed propellers. The aircraft was to be armed with a pair each of 20 mm and 30 mm cannons.
The first prototype was completed and flown in March 1944 and a further 5 prototypes were built. Plans had been made for large scale subcontracting of production of the single seat version but there were problems.
The aircraft's engines failed to achieve their rated power, the aircraft attaining a maximum speed of 597 km/h, less than had been anticipated. The aircraft proved to be too heavy due to late changes in the Navy's armour requirements. Flight-testing showed that the aircraft was longitudinally (pitching plane) unstable and the rudder was ineffective at low speed, one of the prototypes crashed during testing. To seal further the fate of the Tenrai, two other prototypes were destroyed by Allied air attacks and the aircraft's problems could not be overcome without major redesign work so the project was dropped.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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The Complete Book of Fighters - William Green Gordon Swanborough |
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War Planes of the Second World War - Fighters Volume Three - William Green |
Anthony Coleiro
My preferred aircraft is the Arrow
With the busy lives we live these days it is not surprising we pick up our log book from time to time to see how we sit for our 90 days of currency. Well this was my situation when I recently returned from Melbourne after a few weeks of family time down there.
"Couple of days", as Con would say, is what I had left so I used my last day of holiday leave, being a Monday, to do a few circuits to update my log book to current.
My preferred aircraft is the Arrow with manual propeller pitch control and retractable undercarriage which, with the additional lever pulling, makes the activity much more fun especially with circuits when, as soon as the cycle is completed, you start the process again.
The morning temperature was climbing and at 1000 hours it had already hit 30 degrees. After the big fan at the front kicked in it made for a pleasant taxi to the run up bays. RWY 29L was designated for circuits however there was a 10 to 15 minute wait so would I like to shutdown and call in 10 minutes is what the TWR offered. Shutdown and call back is what I advised and within less than a minute the cabin of JRY was like a sauna, even with the door ajar.
For those who fly the Arrow we know how sensitive a machine it is to correct starting technique - very much so for a hot start. I was very careful to get this right as to fail would mean an embarrassing call to the TWR for the safety vehicle to assist with a move.
I settled into the routine after a couple of circuits Pleased to advise the lessons learnt from years gone by are still current and on the second crank the cooling fan was again active. Radios on and an instruction to line up - it was my lucky day.
I was soon airborne with no more RWY below, undercarriage up and soon power settings to climb. Virtually all the other aircraft in the circuit were Cessnas. This makes for more lever touching and setting as you slow the aeroplane down to keep the distance from what seems like a fly in front. After a couple of circuits I had settled into the routine. There were a couple of go arounds during my flight, but not for me this time. Certainly our air traffic guys have to be complimented on their linguistic skills as the United Nations was out and about in this session. A couple more circuits and it was a downwind call for a full stop landing and a pleasant taxi back to the clubhouse.
In hindsight I wondered if I had chosen the right time to do my circuits, after all a 3 circuits check flight with an instructor is no big deal had I not gone. But the attention to detail, slow flight setup and in one case delayed undercarriage retraction to maintain separation from the aircraft in front made this an interesting flight. One that shows how we continually draw upon the lessons from our flight training and subsequent flight tests over the years.
Would I go out in the sauna again? Too right, where else can you get real time experience so close to home!
Peter Blackbourn
Day 14: 8 Jan 07 - Kangaroo Island - Mungo
After the unfavourable winds of the previous days, it was a real treat to wake to Area Forecasts indicating that we would have a mild tail wind from Kingscote to Mildura and on to Mungo. The only downside was that to get the best of it you had to go IFR to get through the 2000' or so of stratus blanketing the entire region. We were all looking forward to it, so Mike and Kerrie in the Arrow and Gerry and Fiona in their Cessna 182 planned IFR and 9000'. Peter and Alan in the Warrior and Hank, Darren and Jean their C182 were committed to VFR but had good visibility forecast despite the low ceiling.
LSG and other aircraft at Mungo Meanwhile, Sue Koenig was scheduled on RPT to Adelaide and then Sydney and bade us all fond farewell at Kingscote, cursing the idea of pressurized flight and in-flight service by others.
LSG and other aircraft at Mungo Meanwhile, Sue Koenig was scheduled on RPT to Adelaide and then Sydney and bade us all fond farewell at Kingscote, cursing the idea of pressurized flight and in-flight service by others.
Conditions were as advertised, and the cloud cover pretty well cleared just after Goolwa. Alan and Jean climbed up to 7500' for the ride to Mildura. As with everyone else, the chat frequency was good to advise those behind of conditions ahead. Up high, we started to hear familiar voices from the King Island refugees as they approached Warrnambool to our southeast, as well some other early birds who were well on their way through central Victoria. The ever-trailblazing Richard Pincus and Helen in the "Green Frog" were heard to be high, fast and very much in front after their self imposed lay-over in Warrnambool.
For our team, the large lakes and locks of the Lower Murray quickly gave way to the red-brown Wimmera and "big sky" Victoria. Melbourne Centre saw fit to advise Gerry and Mike (IFR) of "a number of VFR paints all apparently converging on Mildura from the south east and south". Well I never. Gerry decided to go out of his way and practice a GPS approach into Mildura, but on commencement decided that the traffic really warranted a heads up, even though the Garmin 1000 could do all the work for him. Great piece of kit.
We refueled aeroplanes and people at Mildura, with a welcome lunch in the terminal in airconditioned comfort.
Peter arriving at Mungo after his rescue mission Several of the King Island crew also started arriving, and it was good to have the contingent re-united. This was also the first time on the trip that LSG could take full tanks, and this would last us well to Bankstown a couple of days later.
We got to Mungo about 2:30pm after a short 40 minute hop from Mildura to see that the Green Frog was well and truly tied down. Jean with Darren and Hank had landed just ahead of us, with Gerry and Fiona just behind. The 125 kt aeroplanes had kept each other in good company for the entire trip. Neil MacGowan, Chris and Bill Larkin in the Saratoga had also just arrived in their 150 kt rocketship, but cheated if I remember by not going via Mildura.
After settling in and getting a couple of cool drinks, it was then a matter of who was where and who hadn't arrived. A steady stream of arrivals followed, and all were marshaled into the tight parking area adjacent to our lodges. What a boon it was to just pick up your bags and walk to the accommodation. The evening tour time was scheduled for 1945, with a 1700 introduction to Mungo at the Visitor Centre followed by dinner at the lodge prior to heading out again.
Walls of China, Mungo National Park, NSW But, I heard you say, where were our intrepid organizers? Wayne, Nelson and Matt had gone AWOL, deciding that Mildura with a dead alternator held better prospects than Mungo with a dead alternator. Once contact was established (no mobile in Mungo, man) we were able to dispatch Peter Edwards in the Baron to retrieve them. This was very kind of Peter, and we were pleased to see them all back in time for dinner and the sunset tour.
Our guide Graham was a wealth of information and showed us great pride and passion for his work, his land and his people. It was a fascinating tour seeing the shifting sands of the massive dunes exposing long-buried animal remains, old remnant campfires and fossils galore. Sitting high on top of the dunes with a cool Semillon watching a perfect sunset behind an uninterrupted 360 degree horizon was a great finish to a memorable day. The photos taken by a number of our crew would be worthy of Australian Geographic! The advent of the night sky with no moon, crisp delineation of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds really told us we were well and truly "out there".
What a contrast to Tassie and Kangaroo Island. There is no way, simply no other way, that our mighty band of travelers could have had these experiences over these distances in this timeframe. Thank you Wilbur and Orville, and Messrs Piper and Cessna!
Mike Allsop
TCUs are located at Sydney,
Adelaide, Perth and Cairns
T he main surveillance tool for air traffic control purposes is Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR), which requires a transponder in each aircraft. The transponder sends aircraft identification and altitude information to the ground station. Airservices Australia operates 20 SSR sites providing radar surveillance along the east coast from Cairns to Adelaide - the "J Curve". Separate coverage is provided around Perth. The RAAF provides the radar at Darwin. Primary radar redundancy is provided at the capital city airports.
Enroute air traffic is controlled from two centres. Melbourne Centre, in Victoria, controls the larger south-western Flight Information Region (FIR) while Brisbane Centre, in Queensland, controls the north-eastern FIR. A redundancy feature is the capacity of either Centre to take over the other Centre's airspace in the event of catastrophic failure.
As well as the two centres, Terminal Control Units (TCUs) are located at Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Cairns, and there are 25 control towers providing aerodrome control services. Flight information services are provided from the Australian Flight Information Centre (AusFIC) located in Brisbane. The RAAF provides ATC services at Darwin and Townsville (and at its own bases).
In 1999 ATC moved into the digital age with The Australian Advanced Air Traffic System (TAAATS), developed by Airservices Australia and the French company Thompson (now Thales). Remote radar, VHF and HF signals are beamed to Melbourne and Brisbane centres by satellite and land-links making use of the public telecommunication network provided by carriers such as Telstra and Cable and Wireless Optus. Airservices Australia operates more than 100 satellite ground stations using the Australian satellite system.
The controller's radar display - HMI In addition, microwave radio bearer links and copper or fibre-optic control cable systems link facilities at the capital city and larger regional airports.
The controller's radar display (or more correctly, the Human Machine Interface - HMI) permits interaction with the aircraft's flight plan via windows which are displayed on the screen, or the interactive label attached to the radar position indicator (RPI - the radar return from an aircraft). The main screen displays the controller's sector. The smaller screen on the right displays adjacent sectors. The scale on both of these screens is adjustable and the controller can "zoom" in to monitor aircraft in close proximity. The screen on the lower left displays the voice switching network - intercoms, frequencies, etc. The screen on the top left displays meteorological radar, timer alarms, memory aids, etc.
The controller can interact with the flight plan so that any changes automatically carry through to all relevant sectors. Inter-sector coordination is greatly reduced and much quicker. Requests for track changes, level changes, and other flight plan amendments are dealt with far more expeditiously because the next sector can see what is being requested at the adjacent sector and respond almost immediately.
Aircraft are displayed on the HMI with several different symbols. The air traffic controller must constantly be aware of the symbols; as aircraft leave and enter radar or ADS-B coverage, update with ADS (satellite), and so on, different separation standards must be applied depending upon the symbol displayed. A controller must be able to move seamlessly between standards as the situation changes.
Day 12: 12 Sep 07 - Birdsville - Longreach
This is the record of our experience on the day 12 of the fabulous Opal Tour. John Carswell was to fly this leg in HQR wanted an early start. So at 6.35am the alarm clock woke me and, after ablutions at the 'mens' block, I packed and staggered out to walk to the airstrip. A council employee stopped and offered to transport me and my bags to the strip (someone up there was looking after me!) in the council ute.
Found the gate, went in and proceeded to remove the tie downs.
John Carswell with HQR outside Birdsville
Pub about to depart for Longreach When John arrived he took over the pre-flight while I went to the Hotel office and lodged our flight plan (giving myself ample SARTIME, unlike Whitecliffs where I had a call from CENSAR!)
We planned two stages, Birdsville to Windorah to refuel, then Windorah to Longreach. The weather favoured us with a tail wind and the TAFs were equally good.
We headed off with John flying this leg. Neither of us had had breakfast and I gnawed on a mangled Mars Bar from my flight bag that had been alternately melted and frozen, and washed down with water. No, we didn't get into our survival rations!
At 7000 John found a great tail wind and we arrived at Windorah ahead of schedule.
Departing Wyndorah, John climbed again to 7500, where we still had the favourable tailwind. We dodged Restricted Area R608 as we had no wish to be zapped by radiation!
Another aircraft was departing on RWY 04 at Longreach so John manoeuvred for a straight in approach and executed another smooth landing.
Bill Larkin with HQR at Longreach We tied down, took our gear to the waiting taxi and were soon at the "Jumbuck Motel" where our rooms were not immediately available so we walked the short distance to the "Stockman's Hall of Fame". What a fabulous place! We had a light lunch then wandered off on our separate ways.
I roamed around the exhibits and took so many photos that I ran out of memory space and had to buy another chip. I was fascinated by the place but I finally walked back to the Jumbuck where my room was ready. I was so tired I flopped on the bed and promptly fell asleep.
Hearing Sheri outside my room, I woke up - she said we were all going to town to the Longreach Club for dinner. I showered and dressed in a remarkably short time to catch the taxi.
The food was great, both in quantity (a country mans serve) and quality. I had "Coral Trout" which was excellent, and my usual dessert. Then we caught the taxi back to the Jumbuck and I was soon fast asleep after another action packed day.
Bill Larkin
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Frequently, acronyms are formed that use existing words (and sometimes the acronym is invented first and the phrase name represented is designed to fit the acronym). Examples are NOW - 'National Organization for Women' and WHY - 'World Hunger Year'.
Abbreviations that use the first letter of each word in a phrase are sometimes referred to as initialisms, which can be, but are not always, acronyms. UTC, VHF, TOW, AIP, and GPS are initialisms that are not acronyms. Many acronym lists you'll see are really lists of initialisms or abbreviations. (Note that abbreviations include shortened words like etc. for 'etcetera' as well as shortened phrases such as milspec for 'military specification'.)
In summary
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An abbreviation is a shortening of a word or a phrase. |
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An acronym is an abbreviation that forms a pronounceable word. |
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An initialism is an abbreviation that uses the first letter of each word in the phrase (thus, some but not all initialisms are acronyms). |
Furthermore
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An acronym so familiar that no one remembers what it stands for is called an anacronym (For example, few people know that TACAN stands for 'Tactical Air Navigation' or that LASER stands for 'Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation'.) |
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An acronym in which one of the letters stands for the actual word abbreviated therein is called a recursive acronym. (For example, BWIA - 'BWIA West Indies Airways'.) |
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An acronym in which the short form was original and words made up to stand for it afterwards is called a backronym. (For example, SOS was originally chosen as a distress signal because it lent itself well to Morse code. Long versions, including 'Save Our Ship' and 'Save our Souls', came later.) |
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An acronym whose letters spell a word meaningful in the context of the term it stands for is called an apronym. (For example, BASIC, which stands for 'Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code', is a 'simple', high-level programming language.) |
FEEDBACK AND CONTRIBUTIONS: Well, that's your Newsletter for this 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: "It's got to be the going not the getting there that's good" - Harry Chapin [Greyhound]
Latrodectus
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