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 - OCTOBER 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Welcome to the October 2006 edition of Schofields News. There are the usual plus some new features - When the Engine Stops by Peter Blackbourn, Ask the CFI by Peter Kestle, X-File X067 Tomashevich Pegas) by Anthony Coleiro, Jabiru J160 Workshops by Sheri Crawshaw, Boys and their Toys (Part 2) by John Cornell, Darwin Flyaway (Part 4) by Bill Larkin, It's Deadly to Ignore Procedures by Bruce Byron, Presentation Night Review by Peter Blackbourn, and Last Word from Latrodectus. As well, there's the usual administrivia that you've come to expect. So, read on and enjoy! ![]() Duchess XHT is now on line at Schoies NEW MEMBERS FOR SEPTEMBER: Welcome Francisco Sanchez, David Edge, Pawel Duda, Warren Ford, Ronald Brammer, William Chu, John McCann, Juliana Corona and Taylor Lawson. DUTY PILOT DRAW FOR SEPTEMBER: The Volunteer Duty Pilot Monthly Draw ($50 free flying) for September will be announced shortly. NEXT CLUB COMPETITION will be an early morning event at Bankstown on Sunday, 29 October commencing at 6:00am! More details later. INTERCLUB COMPETITION ROUND 3 will be held at Warnervale on Saturday, 4 November and will be hosted by the Central Coast Aero Club. Hopefully geography will mean a good roll-up for this event and we expect to take an instructor and at least 10 competitors. You can now download full details (150kB pdf). Pilots interested in competing should e-mail John Hook. More... SATURDAY, 14 OCTOBER: A big day for social activities at the Club. Check this out!
FLY & BUY DAY: A special Schofields Flying Club Factory Outlet shopping tour on Saturday, 14 October 2006 has been arranged for all those partners who usually stay at home or keep themselves otherwise amused waiting for the flying day to come to an end. More... COLLEGE PRESENTATION NIGHT: Photographs from our College Presentation Night held at the Club on Saturday, 2 September 2006 are now in the Photo Gallery. There is a full report later in this Newsletter. More... 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 October and November 2006:
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Club Vice President Peter Blackbourn and wife Vivianne are at present on holidays in Europe. As the 'official Schoies Foreign Correspondent', Peter has provided this report on his gliding exploits at Lasham. ![]() When the engine stops, you glide! Lasham is an English airfield built in 1942 by the Royal Engineers who blew the top off a small hill and then graded this to make an airstrip. A typical approach I am told to many of the English airfields setup at that time. I visited the Lasham Gliding club with my friend who lives locally. The airfield was bought by the club from the Govt a few years ago and with the rental income from an onsite aeronautical engineering firm, the size that services small jets in the 737 category, this has now been paid off. Good for some... It was always my plan to go gliding whilst on holidays here in the UK especially with the great setup that Lasham have. Gliding is one form of aviation that I had not experienced. Well as luck would have it my friend spied a fellow member setting up his twin seat (side by side) glider for some action and in no time I had donned a parachute (another first) and was having my briefing on it's use whilst seated and ready to taxi for take off.Our aircraft, a STEMME S10 call sign G-STEN was a high performance motorglider having retractable main undercarriage as well as a retractable 2 blade propeller using a unique centrifugal clutch arrangement where the blades would extend and provide powered lift. ![]() Peter and Bill - what they did at Lasham These then folded away nicely when the engine stopped with the nose cone slipping back over the prop area to give a clean surface in flight. The power plant is essentially a VW "Beetle" engine in the back (as you would expect) and this allowed a 400 FPM rate of climb after the initial take off. Whilst G-STEN left the ground at just on 45 knots a further stretch of runway was used to build up airspeed so a clean break from ground effect at around 60 knots got us on our way. We must have passed over at least 6 airfields during our 90 minute sortie, sadly most were WW11 strips that had mostly been closed and in some cases dug up. The flying itself was fun with many steep turns just under cloud pockets to take advantage of thermals that generally prevail in this spot and allow us to climb and continue on our way. Our return to Lasham included a series of such thermal rides that gave us the lift needed to get home without the use of power. Jim my pilot was not keen on using the power option to "cheat" here and I am sure if we ran out of height, then one of the many landing sites available would have been used. Jim was indeed a dedicated glider pilot. In fact one call over the club PA did ask for volunteers to arrange the recovery of a club glider that had run out of lift and landed prematurely. What a great day. Next month Viv and I have a date with Airbus in Toulouse to check out the A380. So this will make a good follow up article for my role as a Schoies Foreign Correspondent. Peter Blackbourn | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() Peter Kestle It's time for a refresher on Bankstown Runway Procedures. On weekends, with good weather, we expect a reasonable amount of traffic. Everyone wants to enjoy a flight with blue skies. The tower has asked that a couple of items be brought to members' attention, in order to assist the Controllers on busy days.
![]() ...more than happy to assist...
Peter Kestle CFI, CP and HAAMC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() Tomashevich Pegas T here would not be many aircraft that could claim to have been designed while the designer was in detention but the Tomashevich Pegas can claim this. In 1943, D.L Tomashevich was arrested and placed in detention by the Soviet government for the failure of the I-180 fighter in which he played a leading role.
While in detention he was set to work on a project to replace the aging Po-2 ground attack aircraft. The aircraft had to be simple, easy to maintain and be able to operate off short semi-prepared strips with a minimum of ground support.![]() Anthony Coleiro The Pegas was of mixed construction, having a fabric covered welded steel tube fuselage with wooden wings. It had a fixed undercarriage, a crew of one and was powered by a pair of 140 hp M-11F five-cylinder air-cooled radials, which gave the aircraft a top speed of 172 kph. The pilot had light armour protecting the cockpit and the aircraft was armed with a pair of 23 mm cannons and one 12.7 mm machine gun. Alternatively the cannons could be removed and a 500 kg bomb load carried. Several prototypes were built and flown but the aircraft never entered series production. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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![]() Learning the ins and outs of the Jabiru T he last couple of weeks have been busy in the training rooms at Schoies, with three workshops and some 45 participants learning the ins and outs of flying our little Jabiru. Scott Coakley and Peter Kestle very ably conducted the sessions and provided keen pilots with details of the glass cockpit system, weight and balance, normal and emergency procedures, and general handling.The sessions also included an interactive familiarisation tour of the aircraft, complete with torrential downpour, water front views from the concrete pad and some very damp participants commenting on the narrow wings providing limited shelter from the rain. For those who have already taken up the 2 hours dual included in the price of the workshop, I'm sure you'll agree, she's a little beauty ... very responsive and fuel efficient. ![]() The narrow wings provide limited shelter Attendees also received a comprehensive booklet on the aircraft and a reference DVD. If you haven't already collected your copy of the DVD, please contact our new General Manager, Nelson Crawshaw, at the Club, to have a copy sent out to you. It was fascinating to see how much force the aircraft can take with a workshop test involving flexing of the undercarriage - don't try this at home or on the runway, kids! Each workshop concluded with a BBQ lunch prepared by Committee Members and their partners ~ thanks to Nelson and Sheri Crawshaw, Grahame and Helen Smith, and trainee cooks Club President Mike Allsop and John Young, supervised by Acting Head Chef Sheri Crawshaw. As usual the opportunity to network and talk shop was brilliant, with new and experienced pilots chatting and comparing stories of past and future trips. A fourth workshop is scheduled for Saturday 11th November - call the club for more details or to book your place. Sheri Crawshaw Director of Marketing & Promotion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CONTINUED FROM LAST MONTH... ![]() About as roomy as a Volkswagen... F or those of you who understand these things, the aircraft was a Piper Cherokee, about the same size as a Cessna 172, but with low wings. Emmanuel cheerfully informed us that the Piper was more difficult to manoeuvre than the Cessna, and, unlike the high wing aircraft, if you went into a spin, you should make finding peace with your favourite deity a fairly high priority. We all laughed nervously, made crap jokes that if Emmanuel crashed and killed us all, we'd kill him, and got into the plane. Those of you in the know would also be aware that the Piper Cherokee is about as roomy as a Volkswagen after a disagreement with a compactor, with a dashboard with a superiority complex. John H and Paul flipped a coin and Jr. got to ride shotgun. Being the lightest (ironic, I know) I got stuck in the back with "Elbows" Paul. We put on our headsets, and looking like 1970's DJs, began to taxi on the runway.TAKE-OFF: We took off, dropped back to the runway with all the grace of a belly flop and then lurched into the Bankstown Blue Yonder. "A bit more weight in the back than I'm used to," explained Emmanuel. Paul and I both pointed to each other. Sydney dropped away from us, and Paul clasped the back of John H's seat, with some strange idea that this would save him if the Piper suddenly remembered what gravity was there for. ROUTE DETAILS: We flew via the Hornsby route to Wollongong. Emmanuel insisted this was the quickest way. I can do no justice to the flight with mere words, at least not my words, anyway. The scenery was stunning, and hopefully this narrative comes with photographic evidence. Paul kept grabbing John H's chair - to stop hitting his head on the roof, apparently. We all took many photos. Paul pointed out good fishing spots, while John H noted good areas to 'do donuts'. Paul tried to convince John H to go fishing the next day. John H answered, "Bugger that, I'm learning how to fly." We waxed lyrical on the benefits of turbulence on adrenalin. ![]() Landing at YWOL - "Oh dear, a bit tight!" STAR TREK: Many "what does this button do?", "hello, I am your pilot / passenger" and "klingons on the starboard bow" jokes were attempted but nobody paid any real attention to them. Emmanuel, quite understandably, looked rather chuffed with himself. We came in to land. "Oh dear, a bit tight." we heard Emmanuel say, as he roller-coastered a few hundred feet, before levelling into a notably smooth landing. We taxied, parked and stopped. The engine hummed for a while, we got out, shook ourselves, tried to wipe the grins off our faces and entered the Wollongong Flying Club. We purchased three beers and a pineapple juice (for the pilot). Sitting at a wooden table, overlooking the runway, we smoked the last of Emmanuel's cigarettes whilst John H and Emmanuel entertained us with their adrenal exploits bungy jumping, reverse bungying, parachuting, jet skiing and flinging themselves at moving trains. TAIL WIND: The return trip unfortunately lasted only ten minutes, as we didn't fly via Hornsby. The take-off went with out a hitch, proving that Paul, having swapped places with John H, was the excess weight, not me. THE QUOTE OF THE DAY went to Paul. I am, however, forced to paraphrase: "That was the most enjoyment I've had since discovering ... the pleasures of enjoying one's own company!" John Cornell (This little gem was hidden away in a company internal newsletter, and John Hook, who works for the same company, just knew we would love it. Thanks guys for your permission to reproduce it.) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CONTINUED FROM LAST MONTH... ![]() Massive B-52 bomber TUESDAY, MAY 30: We get up and decide to go sight seeing and first on our agenda is a visit to the Aviation Museum hangar near Darwin airport. A huge B52 bomber, only one of two outside the USA, occupies most of the hangar with many smaller aircraft scattered around it. (I get in as a 'senior", grey hair helps sometimes!) We watch a video on the B52 and then a video of the Japanese attacks on Darwin. (These attacks were much worse than we knew about and obviously a big cover up was made at the time; in reality Darwin was totally destroyed and a handful of Japanese could have invaded Australia through Darwin with almost no opposition if they had wanted to.) All our defending aircraft were shot down, the navy and transport ships, all wharves and oil storages on fire, troops killed and in disarray. The Japanese sent 188 aircraft in and dropped more bombs than on Pearl Harbour and their reconnaissance after the raid showed that there were no targets left to attack! We wander around the exhibits, see WW2 aircraft and relics of fighters from both sides, displays and stories of heroism and gradual rebuilding of defences and of offensive raids on Jap positions in New Guinea and Java. We go back to the Marakai apartments, have lunch, wash clothes and I decide on an evening "Pearling Lugger Sunset Cruise" on Darwin Harbour. I phone up to book am told be at the wharf in 10 minutes or you miss out! I rush out to get a taxi and they all rush past me. Frantically, I flag one down but he is unsure where Cullen Bay Marina is! Fortunately I map read and tell him where to go. I told him I have 10 minutes to get there and he goes like a kamikaze! I jump out of the taxi and rush down to the wharf but the lugger is leaving. I wave frantically and the skipper nudges the lugger back to the wharf and I jump aboard, apologising for arriving late and settle down as the skipper explains we are in an artificial harbour where the water level is kept constant by a lock and is independent of the large fluctuations of the tides. The lock is intriguing as we are lower several feet to meet up with the water level in Darwin Harbour. Its a glorious day with light winds and the jib and main are set. We sail, and with some motor assistance, coast along the shore of this vast harbour, The water is quite deep and we see fish on the depth sounder. Then a pod of dolphins swim towards us and later surf on our bow wave. ![]() A glorious day on Darwin Harbour Incredible! We are served champagne, cheese, nibbles and pearls shell meat, marinated in wine and spice; chewy but tasty! We are shown pearl shell, pearls, and pearl artifacts and old photos of this lugger's days as the "Amiki", a working pearling lugger. The skipper is a font of information, answering all our questions. One I particularly liked was "Is it safe to swim in Darwin?" The skipper replied "You can safely swim anywhere in Darwin just so long as you can see the tiles under your feet !" He then went on "There are hundreds of salt water crocks here, thousands of sharks and millions of stingers !" As we cruise we see the Navy patrol boats, the captured illegal fishing boats, a big ocean going barge on its way to Timor loaded with containers and a demountable building on top of the containers. The sun sets in a blaze of colour that no camera can capture and the water takes on an iridescent blue. Coloured lights appear on shore and on boats. A large warship glides in quietly we see the choppers on the stern . Fishing boats are going out and the marine radio chatter tells of a gas tanker arriving at the new terminal across the bay. We see the parliament house and government house all illuminated in a golden light, then head back to the lock and the inner harbour. It was a great cruise! The skipper thoughtfully calls three taxies for us and they are waiting at the wharf. I share one and get back to the Marakai. Mike tells me Colin has gone to the Irish Pub "Shenanigans" where there is a trivia night and he wants me to come to help with the competition. I have a bit of trouble locating it among so many lively night spots and arrive just as Colin is writing up some answers. I get a "Harp" ale and order Barra (what else?) We do not do to well with the trivia questions - I get a few right but we are up against real competition here! Finally the noise is too much for me and I wander of back to the Marakai and bed. CONTINUED NEXT MONTH... Bill Larkin Bill, age 74, has been flying for 30 years. After being almost a passenger on three Schoies Flyaways he felt that this time he would fly the trip myself but still needed a co-pilot; Kristin filled that position admirably. He hasn't hung up his headset yet - he's going on the Tassie Tour on Boxing Day, and looks forward to seeing everyone in Hobart! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() Bruce Byron
Australia's pilots have been issued a warning about the deadly dangers of failing to follow official in-flight procedures. The warning follows a number of fatal aircraft crashes in recent years where pilots deviated from published instrument approach procedures when preparing to land. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has written to all Australian pilots stating strong action will be taken where there is evidence pilots are not following mandatory procedures. CASA's chief executive officer, Bruce Byron, says in the letter there is evidence a small number of pilots sometimes take a deliberate decision not to follow full published instrument approach procedures.Over the last 18 months three fatal aircraft accidents have been reported by the ATSB involving aircraft that appeared to be conducting GNSS/RNAV instrument approach procedures. In at least two of these accidents the factual information shows that the aircraft departed significantly from the published instrument approach procedure whilst in controlled flight. The recently released report involving a PA31 aircraft conducting an approach at Mount Hotham provides details on one of these accidents. I recommend you read the report that is available on the ATSB website. Some common factors worth noting in these accidents include:
GNSS/RNAV instrument approach procedures are designed to be both efficient and safe. Deviating from published procedures, or truncating the approach perhaps to save time, not only compromises instrument approach safety margins but can result in the GPS/GNSS unit being unable to achieve the accuracy required for the conduct of the approach safely. The same principle applies to published approach procedures for other navigational aids such as NDB, etc. The reasons for aircraft departing from the published approach procedures in these accidents may never be known for certain. However, evidence from similar accidents over a period of time has indicated that in some cases operating pilots have made deliberate decisions not to follow the full published instrument approach procedures. From a personal perspective, and based on an aircraft operating career of over 40 years, I have certainly heard of examples where fellow pilots abandoned the final stage of an instrument approach and transferred to visual reference too early. ![]() External or self imposed pressure External or self imposed pressure can be strong enough for pilots to deliberately place themselves, their aircraft and their passengers in danger when safer alternatives are available. Pressures of time, or of costs, pressures from passengers expecting to get to their destination, or merely the desire not to "lose face"; any and all can lead to fatal errors of judgement. In some cases operating crew may also attempt non-standard procedures because they mistakenly believe they are safer than the approved, and legally mandatory, procedures - descending below cloud or "shooting for the hole" in cloud in order to become visual, or following pilot-preferred landmarks rather than the published waypoints. Furthermore, successful outcomes of previous similar deviations can lull pilots into a false sense of security. Pilots are the last and best defence against aircraft accidents, and their operational decisions must always regard safety as the paramount consideration. I am confident that the vast majority of pilots and operators take their responsibilities for safety seriously, but those who place commercial or other considerations above the safety of themselves and their passengers need to urgently re-examine their priorities in the light of these tragic and avoidable accidents. You can assist the reinforcement of appropriate attitudes to instrument approach procedures by actively discussing the issues highlighted in ATSB accident reports with your colleagues. Barring dire in-flight emergency, there can be no excuse for deviation from published instrument approach procedures. As I announced last year, CASA is increasing its surveillance of fare-paying passenger operations. CASA will take strong action against pilots who deliberately deviate from those procedures, and will take similarly strong action against aircraft operators who, either expressly or impliedly, compel their pilots to deviate from the procedures. The travelling public of Australia rightfully expects that their safety is the aviation industry's paramount concern; it is certainly mine. Bruce Byron AM Chief Executive Officer Civil Aviation Safety Authority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() Kozue Takeda receives her award On Saturday 2nd September Schofields Flying Club hosted a presentation night at our clubhouse. This regular event recognises those members who have been successful in attaining a milestone in their flight training with our training arm, Sydney Flight College. It also provides an environment consistent with one of our Club's primary constitutional statements, specifically the promotion of General Aviation in our community. We had around 40 patrons to the evening including recipients, family, friends as well as special guests and event support crew. Arriving guests were welcomed by our committee members with Club President Mike Allsop our MC for the evening. Guests not only received a warm welcome but also a complimentary drink as an ice breaker to the evening. For many of our members this was the first time they had participated in one our social activities.Our web page Photo Gallery has some good photos from this event. You will see the many smiling faces from the night. ![]() Roger Weeks with Mike Allsop Our special guest speaker on the night was Roger Weeks who is the Regional Manager of CASA's General Aviation Operations Group at Bankstown. He spoke of the role that CASA plays and in particular the importance of Airmanship, breaking this into three parts. "Air" - the space we fly in, "man" - a non gender reference to us as pilots, and finally "ship" - the aircraft that we fly. It was indeed an informative view of flight operations we undertake. We also had as special guests Ken Andrews and Pat Watson, both being CASA approved testing officers who, between them, reviewed and tested the recipients and provided the seal of approval to their achievement(s). Finally, thanks to all the support crew consisting of our committee and their family members whose collective talents make the success of these events possible. Hopefully you can join us at our next major social event being the club Christmas function scheduled for Saturday 9th December. Keep an eye on both your inbox and our web site for details closer to the time. The recipients of the awards and their achievements were as follows. Congratulations to all of you.
Peter Blackbourn Vice President and Director of Clubhouse Services & Events | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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: If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible - Bob Hoover Until next time. Latrodectus |
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© 2003 Schofields Flying Club Ltd. All Rights Reserved. |
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