September 2007
IMPORTANT DATE:
Wednesday
26th of September there will be a Special General Meeting at the
Clubrooms (7:30pm) for the discussion and voting on options for the
Hangar Project. See in the newsletter for more info.
September 2007 Newsletter
Welcome to Septembers issue. This month we have a “I learned about flying from that” We also have a very interesting article from the Operations Manager which applies to all of us who fly behind a windscreen. Well spring is upon us so make the most of the warmer weather. Please be aware of stock especially lambing ewes, as we don’t want to upset farmers who have potential out landing sites.
So whats happening out there.
Carolyn Trevella has bought Neville Paintin’s Thruster. Her birthday present to herself??!!. Happy Birthday Carolyn
John McCaull has a nice shiny Technam sitting in Colin Marshall’s hangar. From what I have heard it is getting plenty of air time.
Roger Ward’s Titan Tornado has flown. With the bright orange paint scheme, you should see it coming.
Graeme Main’s X-Air Hanuman is sitting in the Karatoo factory awaiting an engine.
Kiwi Karatoo, it is rumoured, have an order for another Karatoo. I saw the jigs laid out and pieces of pipe being made into the shape of an aeroplane. More details next month.
Rod Web has sold his Zmax. Apparently it will be remaining on the field.
Grant Dodds now has a rating on the Corby Starlet.
Mike Sheffeild’s Pober Pathfinder is having an engine mount made. The engine is being stripped and is in the process of a rebuild.
Nigel Forrester has a VP1 on the field and looking forward to being able to fly it.
Mike Cron has his T-51 Mustang sitting in Alan Ryde’s hanger. By all accounts it looks very spectacular.
Dean McDonald has bought himself a trike.
Brent Thompson is building Noel Vallance a new trike. Good luck with the solar car Brent. We expect a full report when you get home.
Bryan Tuffnell has got a new wing on his trike.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New members
We welcome David Leefe, Steve Noad, Russel Byfield, Steven Cross, Robert Black and Kerry Millar as new members to the club.
Bruce Norrie on the 19th August after completing his first Solo. Congratulations
Instructors Roster
Sept 8th Mike Small
15th Dave Mitchell
22nd Peter Small
29th Ross Marfell
Oct 6th Roger Ward
13th Kim Tweetyman
20th Dave Mitchell
This roster is subject to change. There will be an instructor on duty on these days. In addition Tony Denhaan has offered to make himself available on Wednesdays. It is important that you make contact with him before hand as he won’t be at the airfield unless he has been booked in. Also Ross Marfell is available on Fridays, but once again please check with him beforehand. The instructors give up their own time to do the instructing for us so please don’t mess them about.
Instructors phone numbers
Brent Thompson 03 313 1865 021 384 4288
Dave Mitchell 03 314 7550 025 228 9556
Peter Small 03 312 5878 027 435 4244
Roger Ward 03 359 9671 027 493 2943
Ross Marfell 03 385 7261 027 260 0290
Tony Denhaan 03 312 5359 027 480 8259
Kim Tweetyman 03 312 9219
Mike Small CFI 03 313 7663 027 436 2609
From The Operations Manager:
This is a letter I should have gotten out some time ago - work, work, and work. Still it does pay the bills. Firstly, thanks to Paul Woodley and the “team” down in Mike Small’s hanger for keeping our aircraft in such good condition. It’s a real pleasure to know that only rarely do we have serviceability problems, and most of the time, those are due to scheduled maintainence.
If ever you are out on the airfield during the week, pop on down to Mike’s hanger and see what’s going on - its very informative, the guys are welcoming, and they’ll even allow you to help.
Despite all the good things I have to say about the club and its facilities, there have been times I have climbed into JOL, and had difficulty seeing out because of dirty windscreens and doors, so the subject of this particular letter will be cleaning the windscreens and doors, which should be done of course each time you pre-flight the aircraft.
Think of the windscreen as an expensive pair of sunglasses. Its there as an aid to good vision, not just to keep the wind and rain out, and given some of the limits of human vision, a sparkling clean windscreen will keep you safer.
Wash the windscreen and doors with water, then dry with a soft cloth or better yet, a clean chamois. Dry the screen with vertical wipes, rather than horizontal; that can introduce distortions.
Once clean, apply a light coat of “pledge” (kept in the hanger) with a clean soft cloth, and wipe dry. The “pledge” will polish the surface and “fill‘ in any tiny scratches.
Petrol spills can happen. The transparencies on our club aircraft are made from Lexan, seriously strong material, but softened and damaged quite quickly by petrol. Clean off the excess with plenty of water as quickly as possible, wipe dry and use pledge. The pledge will also tend to neutralise any remaining effect of the petrol, plus give you a surface worth looking out of.
Our vision provides us with about 80% of the orientation information we need, so lets have a chat about some human vision limitations:
Blind spot: We all have a visual “blind spot” due to the make-up of the eye. This aberration tends to exist in the centre of our vision and for the most part is not perceptible, mainly because the brain tends to “fill in” what it thinks should be there. For the most part, the brain gets it right, but not always. Things like door pillars, struts etc can hide rapidly approaching dangers and the brain will tend to regard the areas behind the structures as being much the same as the rest of the sky - empty. Dirty windows don’t help your cause. Dirty windows we can do something about.
Cone of acuity : Our eyes provide sharp vision over a relatively narrow cone, not much more than 20 degrees. As it takes about 2 seconds for our eyes to adjust to any new scene, the “20 degrees every two seconds” rule for scanning has been developed. Allowing your eyes to adjust to the scene is the key and for some it may be slightly longer than 2 seconds. Being distracted by “bits of poop” on the windows isn’t what you need.
There are a number of other limitations, but these two are probably the most important. I haven’t mentioned sun strike, which occurs every time you fly towards the sun. This may include landing on runway 25 late in the day: give your self a chance.
Buy yourself a chamois, keep it specifically for the aircraft, don’t lend it to anyone and keep it clean. A synthetic chamois is just as good as the real thing.
Safe and happy flying
Terry S
From the President
INCIDENT REPORTS
ALL incidents resulting in damage to an aircraft should be reported to RAANZ using the RAANZ incident form. This is not a way of checking up on what you have done or should have done, it is not looking to blame or chastise anyone it is mainly to identify trends and aircraft faults that may be a common theme for certain aircraft. Incident reports should be copied to our Safety Officer, Paul Woodley, who will also send them to RAANZ. This gives us two line of action to ensure the incident is reported. Please use the system it may save your life or another’s.
MODIFICATION and REPAIRS should be inspected by a person with an inspection authority. What you think is a good repair may not be. Get it checked. Paul Woodley is only too happy to look over something for you. Sometime the obvious is hard to see when you have done your own work. Get good advice , carry out the work with the best materials and GET IT CHECKED.
TO FLY you need to be a current member of RAANZ, SAC or a member of the RNZAC. You need a current medical and you need a current license. If you have your own plane you need a current permit. It's easy to let one of these slip - check yours now.
If you fly JOL or JOR you also need to be registered in the RED book in the clubhouse. If you are lacking in any of these SEE YOUR INSTRUCTOR.
TRAINING ROSTER. Our instructors roster is going very well and you can arrive at the field on a Saturday morning and expect to get a flight, you may have to wait though, but don't leave it to chance book early. Our instructors are all volunteers and expect to be told if you can't make an appointment. They, like you, value their spare time, so take your time and keep them informed if you can't make it.
CLUBHOUSE. For all those who don't bring their mothers with them to wash up the dishes after you please do your own and put them away!!
HANGAR SPACE. Paul has marked where he wants the planes to be kept. These are the best places for access to aircraft that make it relatively easy to move aircraft and avoid damage. So if you don't want your plane damaged put it back on it's own markings. If you move someone else's plane put it back in the correct place.
NEW HANGARS. For the benefit of new members the club is going to be building a new hangar next year. At present we have a site, we have people who have committed funds to ensure a place and we have quotations for various hangars. We are soon to finalize our options and will be taking the decision to the club in a special general meeting to be held on SEPTEMBER 26TH at the club house at 7.30 pm. If anyone is interested in purchasing a long-term hangar space at a reduced rate please contact Mike on 327 6448.
THANKS. To the instructors and committee members who keep the aircraft flying. A lot of work goes on in the background in preparing the aircraft, getting pilots through exams and carrying out the air training. Our committee does a great job in making sure we have good facilities, good documentation and a tidy clubhouse. You can do your bit by keeping the hangars and clubhouse tidy and reporting any damage to the club's facilities or aircraft. We are all in it together, every little bit helps.
WORKING BEE. A club working bee will be held on Saturday 15th September. Jobs to be done
-
Clean Hangars
-
Clean Planes
-
Clean clubhouse in side and out
-
Cut grass and weed gardens, plant flowers
If you have any annual plants looking for a home bring them along. We would also appreciate any other plants or shrubs. just small one's please.
We will start at 10am and have a BBQ at lunch time . Keep an eye on the notice board at the club house for other things to be done on the day..
KEEP SAFE and ALERT.
Why I like flying with CRAC
I was bringing the cows in for the afternoon milking when the cell phone rang. “Hi David, it’s Ross Marfell here. We are going to Kaikoura tomorrow and wondered if you would like to come”. “I would love to Ross, but there’s no way I can make it”. (Calving season is our busy time on the farm.) I carried on and thought, well things are pretty well sorted here, I would be home by 3.30pm, perhaps we could make it. I rang Ross back and said I think we can make it. See you tomorrow.
N
Tony and Mike decided to stop off at the Maxwell café in Cheviot. Ross and Troy were heading back to Rangiora as was Ngaire and I. Cows to milk and all that stuff. We flew down the coast a bit and then decided to head inland at the Waiau River. We were cruising along nicely at 2500 feet when the oil and water temperature started climbing. I idled back and headed down to see if that would help but the temps just kept climbing and fast. I said to Ngaire “We are landing and we are landing in that paddock there!!” NOW. We still had a lot of height left but I was keen to turn the engine off. So we went into a giant sideslip. Man you can lose some height in a hurry if you want to. We got down on the ground and the engine was stopped before we came to a halt.
I got out and poked my nose under the bonnet and had a poke around. I wondered why Ngaire didn’t get out. What I didn’t realise was that if she had got out her legs were shaking that much she wouldn’t be able to stand up. Anyway long story short I gave Mike a ring and asked him if he would mind popping in on his way past. Then Duncan Fraser rang to see how our day went and I told him my predicament. Then I had Peter Small ring to ask if I needed a hand. I was so busy on the phone I had no chance of looking for the problem. I let the engine cool down a bit and then checked the oil and water. The oil was ok but the water was down so I filled her up with the water I had on board. By this time Tony and Mike turned up. It was like the American cavalry arriving. I needed more water and Tony produced a bottle for me. We filled it up and bled some air from the system. By this time KTP had got the sulks and refused to start.
Tony and Mike knew that we were keen to get back to our farm before dark, so we could check on calving cows and milk those that needed it, so they offered to leave Andrew and Christine (a bit rough on Andrew and Christine) behind and take us back to Rangiora. Meanwhile Mike had arranged for Dave Mitchell to come and pick up Christine and Andrew and take them to Rangiora. By the time that we got back to Rangiora the sun was just about down.
We headed home and got all our bits and pieces done and were back inside by 8.45pm, which wasn’t to bad considering everything. The main point to my story is that when it is turning pear shaped, everyone rallies around to help, to which I am very grateful. Thanks to Mike, Tony, Duncan and Peter for their offers of help. Thank you Christine and Andrew for giving up your seats so we could get home. Especially thanks to Dave Mitchell for picking up Andrew and Christine.
P.S. Mike and Paul went back next day to see what was wrong with KTP and found once she started she never put a foot wrong. Gosh women can be temperamental at times.
I learned about flying from this (and how).
Doddles and I had been talking about a cross- country down to Omarama for ages - we had both come into micro-lighting from gliding, and for past, current and future glider pilots from around the world, Omarama is a legendary place. The scene of many a world record, and on the right day, there is no other site in Australasia with conditions anywhere near as good. The combination of mountains, nor westerly weather and hot summer days are the "engine" that makes it all work so well. To better it in the Southern Hemisphere at least, you'd probably have to go to Argentina, specifically Patagonia which unsurprisingly offers conditions much the same as Omarama - it’s just an awful lot bigger. And a bit far away for a daytrip in JOL.
Even in my own old glider, I have had the variometers indicating 15 meters per second rate of climb, and this was sustained for some time. I have had the opposite of that too, which very much gets ones attention. It’s very common to fly at altitudes exceeding 20,000 feet - you also pre-flight the oxygen system at Omarama (pretty darned carefully).
For Doddles, who is a much better glider pilot than I was, it has been a place of adventures too numerous to mention: records, badges, and many an interesting evening. Once, when we were flying together in the Canterbury Gliding Clubs big Schemp-Hirth Janus he extracted me from deep guano right over Twizel. We were very low, about 500 feet above ground and alas, this was rather less than the height required to see us back at Omarama, which is about 30 kms south of Twizel. I was slowly thermaling us into the ground, and he said to me, in an unnecessarily rude tone of voice, “ shut up, sit there, and I have control”. He had seen a tractor working a paddock, just south of Twizel. The tractor was disturbing the air enough for it to trigger a thermal. It was a narrow wee thing, and Doddles flew us into it at 400’ agl, but it worked. Initially it had a very narrow core, so we were for a while kind of into it, out of it. But there was more up than down and with a masterly display of skill, Doddles had us back to Omarama at safe circuit height (which in gliding can be a variable, dependant on the circumstances). I was deeply impressed. Landing out is expensive, and in those circles rather embarrassing.
So, Omarama we were bound. Brent, Mrs Salmon and (presumably) the future Mrs Dodd all gave us permission so we picked a date (15 Jan), and decided that we would take JOL (I didn’t want to embarrass myself with a series of bounces at Omarama in JOR, and most inconsiderately, Mike was busy with KTO).
At 7 am there was thick fog in Kaiapoi. At 7-30am there was thick fog at Rangiora. At 8-30 I could finally see the windsock from outside the “Ragwing“ hanger, and having heard “that its fine in town” from Doddles (who had finally arrived at the airfield), I decided that blast-off time would be 9am. Thus equipped with a cunning plan, we gassed the poor old thing up, donned aviator sunglasses (which were promptly removed because of the gloom), and taxied out. I even remembered to take the correct map. 07 take-off, flaps up, and we were off.
I knew it wasn’t the best decision I had ever made at about 300 agl’, and therein lies the moral of my story. We were at cloud base. I should have completed a low level circuit, and landed, and waited, or gone home. However, it was MY day off, so we left Rangiora in the murk somewhere behind us, and pushed on. The cloud got lower. Then lower some more. Set it up at 55 mph with 1 notch of flap which didn’t raise the cloud at all, but I knew that Brent would have been pleased. I briefly imagined the coroners report “he shouldn’t have taken-off, but he was flying it according to best advice - when the wreckage was located it was found to have 1 notch of flap down and a power setting which would have given him 55 mph”. I considered climbing through it, but there were no blue gaps and I had no idea how thick the cloud was, or really how far it extended. I considered turning around, but by the time I realised I was at my limit, Rangiora Airfield was no longer visible, and to be perfectly frank, would I have been able to find it? To a Hawkes Bay boy, one part of rural Canterbury looks a hell of a lot like the rest, especially from 250’ agl, with thick cloud above .I knew that if we could maintain a SW heading it was going to be quite a while before we hit anything, especially if we didn’t have to go below 250’ agl.
Brief glimpses of trees, farmhouse kitchens (looking warm and inviting), extremely large round things called irrigation systems, surprised looking cows, even more surprised looking motorists heading into town from Oxford. I put the lights on, thinking this might help. It didn’t really, but it’s nice to have something to do in times of crisis. At least all the engine gauges were reporting encouraging things.
Doddles, sensing my apprehension, got busy and was soon map reading with alacrity. This helped quite a lot. With trees and road signs flashing by, he announced that “if you steer south west we’ll be right, and that if you stay on this exact specific vector we are bound NOT to hit the observation tower near Forest Fields”. I replied (in a high falsetto) that this indeed was good news. And he was right. We missed it by at least 100 meters while flying down a firebreak. It has a small beer fridge and a toaster in the hut on top, should it be of interest. I cannot think of a time when I have been less pre-occupied. It seemed endless.
But it wasnt. The cloud started to become thinner, and then the sky became clear - like crystal, a touch of cirrus away to the south, inviting, friendly. Blue skies above instead of the gloomy cloud ceiling, a gentle looking Waimak basking in the morning sun. The Port Hills out east. Flaps up, full power, I’m outa here - some of you will know what I mean. The joy of it. The transition from deep misgivings to unbounded optimism was instant. In the climb I looked behind and contemplated the scene. The low stratus extended from west of Summer Hill to Oxford and east to South America for all I knew. It seemed so innocent. Gentle low cloud. How incredibly deceptive it was. And what a 15 minutes it had been.
The rest of the flight was (to coin a phrase) a doddle. Ross Marfell, who at that time of the year is usually found residing at Omarama got airborne in the Alpi, and met us at Burkes Pass. Stunning views of Cook, Tekapo and Pukaki. Lots of stunning views of Ross too - zooming by at warp factor 5. Omarama Basin in all its magnificence. Doddles does the landing. Downwind for 27, usual gusty stuff. Lots of down and shear on final , 2 notches and make sure we don’t fly over the gliders lined up on the grid. Lovely touchdown and we taxi off. Shutdown. After 2.3 hours, it was great to get the headphones off. Omarama was its usual self - hot, and dry with a light norwester. Gliders being towed by cars out to the runway, towplanes flat out, and away on Mount Horrible (marked on the chart as "Mt. St Cuthberts"), there was the usual gaggle of about ten gliders, slope soaring and seeking thermals. Its a wonderful place to visit.
And Ross had organised not only fuel (mixed at the correct ratio) but a wonderful lunch. Never has a salad tasted so good. The xmas fruit cake was too good to resist, and it was great catching up with old friends.
Omarama is a grand cross-country flight and the natives are wonderful. If tempted to over night there, there are caravans etc available to hire, good camping facilities for those of you with tents, seriously good fishing, the local water is drinkable (but not the most popular native drink) and there are hectares of extremely expensive fibre-glass and carbon fibre to contemplate. You can fly in them too. There are two commercial glider schools operating as well as several clubs -
Just don’t do what I did - take off in marginal conditions, with no plan (other than getting to Omarama). I was lucky that the conditions remained this side of the line relative to my experience, I was lucky I had Doddles to map-read and generally shout encouragement . For me it was a hard job both flying and navigating in those conditions. I now truly understand that old saying “ I’d rather be down here wishing I was up there, than up there wishing I was down here”. Make sure you know what the weather is doing before you fly, have a plan if it all goes pear shaped and fly within your limits. It’s a lot more fun that way.
Terry Salmon
FOR SALE- AVECOM HEADSET, AS NEW, SELDOM USED, $150
Phone Mike on 03 327 6448
Important Dates for this month
Saturday 15th Sept Working bee at the clubhouse.
10.00am start. BBQ on the new Barbie at lunchtime
Wednesday 26th. A special General meeting at the clubhouse to discuss and make decisions on new hangars. 7.30pm
SEE PRESIDENTS REPORT
Safe Flying
Dave McPherson dbmcp@xtra.co.nz