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 - JANUARY 2007
Welcome to the January 2007 edition of Schofields News. There are the usual plus some new features - Darwin Flyaway 2006 (Part 5) by Bill Larkin, Ask the CFI by Pat Watson, X-File X070 (Martin Baker M.B.5) by Anthony Coleiro, Movie Review ("One Six Right") by Brian J. Terwilliger, Always Treat the Propeller as Live by Mark Peters, InterClub Competition Results by Rae Cauchi, Miscellaneous Titbits by Latrodectus, Club Christmas Party Report 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!
NEW MEMBERS FOR DECEMBER: Welcome to Nicole Goddard, Stuart Wards, Stephanie Saville, Andrew Walsh, Bart Jellema and Beyvn Carr.DIARY DATES: I'm sure the Club has a number of social and flying activities planned for 2007 and you will be able to check full details on our Coming Events page in due course.
LAST LIGHT DRINKS is a social activity introduced by the Clubhouse & In-house Events sub committee for members and their guests to join together with some of our committee members on the last Sunday of each month. It is an opportunity to discuss flying at an operational and social level and see the changes that are taking place at the club. Drinks are available from our licensed bar, with complimentary savories served. It's a couple of hours of social intercourse with an aviation theme we can all enjoy. From 17:00 to wind up around 19:00. Come and join us on January 28.
CONTINUED FROM THE OCTOBER 2006 NEWSLETTER...
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31 [DARWIN]: We all sleep in. I do a little shopping for food for our road trip to Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks as we will be on the road for a few days and sleeping in tents.
Mamukala billabong, a huge area of wetlands
and water with beautiful flowering water lilies Rae arranges for the Marrakai to store our non essential bags and flight gear while we are on the road. Feeling hungry I notice a small Italian restaurant, "Giuseppe's", lunch for $9.50, looked good, and it was! I enquired about dinner thinking our group would like the food but all had made other arrangements so I had dinner there again, great, I can recommend it if you are in Darwin some time.
THURSDAY, JUNE 1 [DARWIN TO KAKADU]: The bus with large trailer and driver Greg and lady hostess pick us up and we are off to visit the National Parks at Kakadu and Litchfield. It's a long way by bus (quicker to fly) and we all doze as the bus sets out. At a wetlands spot see many birds even a Jabiru and a big crock! Several road trains roar past (prime mover and three trailers together) then two low loaders each carrying a large Abrahams Tank roar past.
A little further on a rise in this flat country is crowned by a big building with a strange curved roof.
Ubirr with the many aboriginal rock art galleries This is the "Window on the Wetlands", a viewing site for the surrounding wetlands with displays inside which are very informative and well done. There is also a research station that also caters for students and volunteers. We saw volunteers removing introduced weeds from the area.
Later we came to the Mamukala billabong, a huge area of wetlands and water with beautiful flowering water lilies, barramundi in the water and many types of birds. We visit a road house, the Bark Hut Inn, very rustic, stuffed crock on one counter, all sorts of saddles, pack horse gear and old time artefacts. Plenty of tourist gift items to buy and I am attracted to an opal bracelet for my wife but it's too small for her wrist. Later we stop to see giant cathedral termite mounds - so many types of termites!
After lunch we stop at the massive rock formation Ubirr with the many aboriginal rock art galleries and the "lightning man" paintings.
We camp over night at the Aurora resort, the place is OK but our tents are small and mine comes complete with the nasty stinging "green ants"! I manage to evict the ants and set my narrow self-inflatable mat one side of the tent, climb into my sleeping bag, zip it up and sleep like a top.
CONTINUED NEXT MONTH...
Bill Larkin
Bill, age 75, has been flying for over 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!
Patrick Watson
I hope you had a very enjoyable Christmas and looking forward to a successful and prosperous New Year.
If you wish to improve your flying knowledge and skills then we have a great number of courses planned for 2007. Included in our plans are theory courses for BAK, PPL, CPL, IFR, PIFR, ATPL, GPS, Instructor Rating and lots of other short courses. If there is a course that you would like to do, then I am sure there are others who think likewise - just come and see me and I am sure we will be able to put it on for you.Theory courses will be conducted part time in the evening and on some weekends.
Flying courses will include GFPT, PPL, CPL, Night VFR, PIFR, Instrument Rating, Instructor Rating, Formation, Low Level endorsement, Multi-engine endorsement. We will even arrange a Jet Endorsement if you have the money and inclination. A timetable for all of the theory courses will be published soon on the Club website.
Last month I mentioned that I like to see pilots actually operating controls and switches when conducting trouble checks - instead of just touching - with a practice engine failure. That caused a bit of discussion, which is great.
The gremlins inserted a question mark at the part where I wrote that you should set the throttle at ¾ after checking it through the range. A lot of people asked why. The reason is simple. If, as a result of your trouble check, you manage to get the engine going, and the throttle is closed - or set at idle power, then you may never know the engine is running normally - then commit yourself to an unnecessary forced landing. Conversely, if the engine comes alive as a result of your trouble checks, and it is set at ¾ power then you will certainly know it. Obviously you don't set it at ¾ power when simulating engine failure.
You may see most of the Instructors now in uniform with shoulder bars or epaulettes. The committee has requested that we upgrade our presentation so that we look a lot more professional. Some members have asked the significance of the number of bars. There is no law and not much is written about the subject. Nevertheless, the following conventions apply:
- 1 Bar - trainee professional pilots, operational administration staff.
- 2 Bars - Grade 3 and Grade 2 Instructors.
- 3 Bars - Chief Flying Instructor, Grade 1 Instructor, Charter Pilots.
- 4 Bars - Chief Pilot.
When I was here before as CFI, I used to set a little poser at the end of my "Ask The CFI" column. I intend carrying on with that tradition. Some questions are just fun, some technical, some historical. All are to entertain and get you to think a little. I may repeat some of the earlier ones as I run out of ideas.Here is this month's: A cargo B747 is maintaining Flight Level 350. It is carrying a full load of live pigeons. A loud noise upsets the pigeons and they all simultaneously become airborne. Does the aircraft become lighter when the pigeons become airborne? Why?
First correct answer with a reasonable explanation gets mentioned in next month's newsletter, and scores 10 points. Second, 5 points and third, 2 points. Whoever has the most points at the end of 2007 gets a prize at the end of year Christmas Party. You may email your answers, or see me in person.
Happy Flying!
Pat Watson
CFI, CP and HAAMC
Martin Baker M.B.5
Considered to represent the pinnacle of piston-engined fighter development, the M.B.5 carried on where the M.B.3 left off. (File X060 March 2006). It rose from the ashes of the destroyed M.B.3 but the only things that were similar to the former aircraft were the wings and the undercarriage.
Again, it followed the same simple and sturdy construction as with the M.B.2 (File X056 November 2005) and M.B.3 with a high degree of fuselage accessibility but this time a 1,900 hp Rolls-Royce Griffon 83 driving a pair of three-bladed contra-rotating propellers was used.
It flew for the first time on 23 May 1944.Initially the aircraft suffered from a lack of direction stability, but an enlarged fin solved this problem.
Anthony Coleiro With this modification the pilots who flew it heaped praise on the aircraft, it manage to reach a remarkable speed of 740 km/h at 20,000 feet.
The M.B.5 was way ahead of its time in engineering and layout. It was considered that the cockpit layout of this aircraft should become the standard for all to comply with and the engine installation concepts should be applied to other aircraft.
The aircraft was armed with four 20 mm cannons fed by a Martin-Baker patented ammunition feed system.
In the end the project only proved academic to the RAF as the jet age was dawning and interest was being lost on propeller driven aircraft and as a result this fine example of a fighter never went into production. The only M.B.5 continued flight-testing until 1947 thereafter it was unfortunately scrapped.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft - Orbis Publication
- The Complete Book of Fighters - William Green Gordon Swanborough
- War Planes of the Second World War - Fighters Volume Two - William Green
One Six Right is an inspiring documentary film that reveals a special look at the unsung hero of aviation, the local airport, through the life, history and struggle of an airport icon: Southern California's Van Nuys Airport. The film takes viewers on a journey of spectacular aerial sequences and tells a romantic story through the accounts of passionate pilots, air traffic controllers, historians and flight enthusiasts, including well-known faces such as Sydney Pollack, Lorenzo Lamas, Paul Moyer, Hal Fishman and many others.
There is no off-screen narrator. The film uncovers the rich history of this airport - Amelia Earhart broke a world speed record over its runways, Marilyn Monroe was discovered while working in its hangars, and scenes from Casablanca were filmed on its grounds. Almost every type of aircraft has graced its runways, from the primitive airplanes of the 1920's to the state-of-the-art business jets of today. Through the history of the Van Nuys Airport (VNY), the viewer comes to have a new appreciation for the significance of all General Aviation airports as a critical component of the communities they serve.Located in the heart of the San Fernando Valley, VNY is today the world's busiest General Aviation airport and contributes over $1 billion each year to the Southern California economy. "One Six Right" explores common misconceptions about General Aviation airports, which are often criticized for noise pollution and viewed as exclusive playgrounds for the rich. The film creates an awareness of the threat to these community airports through staggering statistics of airports that no longer exist, and the rapid rate at which they are continuing to close (1 per week in the U.S.). Airports are not a renewable resource - these smaller and often forgotten airports are the foundation of the entire aviation industry, contributing significantly to global commerce and are the breeding ground of the pilots of tomorrow.
"We made this whole film on an Apple Mac, start to finish. From the producing standpoint, what sold me was that it was very inexpensive, and I could work anywhere. As a director, using Final Cut and DVD Studio Pro allowed me to make changes all the way through post production, all within the same timeline", said Terwilliger.
You can find out more about the film at www.onesixright.com and about the filmmaker at www.apple.com/pro/profiles/terwilliger/. This is, indeed, a beautiful piece of film making.
contributed by George Catchpoole
F or those who have recently completed the Jabiru conversion, we were informed that if the engine turns at less than 300 rpm no spark will be generated and the engine will not fire (section 7.12.6 of the POH also refers). With this knowledge I thought therefore that other Jabiru pilots would find the following item from the latest issue of "Jaba Chat" interesting reading:
It's quite rare for an engine to fire by turning
the prop after shutting down, but it can happen LIVE PROPS: Because the Jabiru engine uses coil ignition and must revolve at least 275 rpm to generate a spark, it is quite rare for an engine to fire after shutting down by turning the prop - but it can happen, has happened and will happen. For this to happen a number of situations must exist:
- The engine may have excess carbon deposits in the combustion chamber that are quite hot.
- An over rich idle.
- High idle rpm.
- A shut down with out some cooling idle time.
- A shutdown of a very hot engine.
- Turning the prop by hand immediately on shutdown.
Recently a competent operator reported the very same happening while carefully turning the prop immediately after shutdown - it fired and luckily no injury occurred as the operator was fully aware of all props being live. This can happen with the mags off so please bear in mind that even though this is rare, it can happen.
(The above material has been developed from the "Jaba Chat" newsletter off the Jabiru website and that source is acknowledged.)
Mark Peters
Schoies Member
Many Schofields' members over the years have been attending the Club Comps and the NSW Interclub Flying Competitions and I have been participating for about 12 years now. I was encouraged to enter the comps to hone my flying skills and I can honestly say that this has been achieved. When doing my private instrument rating I found the instrument work much easier because of all the practice that I had done in the comps.
Les Rapolti, Bob Casagrande and Rae Cauchi
with all the trophies won by Schoies Not only is the Interclub comp a great way of improving skills, it is also a terrific social weekend away with like-minded people from all over the State. There are 3 Interclub comps each year and each is held at a different town in the State. We compete in the comp on the Saturday morning and then have the rest of the day to tour the town. Sometimes the flying club organises a bus trip for the partners of the competitors and those competitors who finish the comp early. In the evening we have the presentation dinner, which is sometimes held at the flying club and other times at a venue in the town. At the presentation dinner awards are given for the winners of the different events, which is a bonus that tops off a great weekend. The next morning there is usually breakfast at the flying club, then we fly home.
This year there were 5 regular competitors from Schofields at the Interclub comps. With those few people we managed to achieve remarkable results. The Interclub is broken into 2 different sections - section 1 has the majority of people competing in it; section 2 is called the APEs (aces, professionals and experts) and competitors who hold a commercial licence are automatically put into this category along with anyone who has won the Pilot of the Year. From Schoies there were four in section 1 and one in the APEs.
The results are worked out by including the best 2 rounds for each competitor over the year and the Club results use 100% of section 1 competitors and 80% of APEs competitors divided by the number of competitors to get an aggregate score.
There are 5 categories awarded at the end of the year - and the results of these were:
- Best Club for Forced Landing - Schofields Flying Club
- Best Club for Spot Landing - Schofields Flying Club
- Best Overall Club for 2006 - Schofields Flying Club
- 1st place - Roger Gates (Central Coast Aero Club)
- 2nd place - Les Rapolti (Schofields Flying Club)
- 3rd place - Alan Drury (Schofields Flying Club)
- 4th place - John Hook (Schofields Flying Club)
- 5th place - Bob Casagrande (Schofields Flying Club)
- 1st place (534 points) - Rae Cauchi (Schofields Flying Club)
- 2nd place (330 points) - David Shaw (Cowra)
- 3rd place (325 points) - Greg Doran
- 4th place (162 points) - Pete McTaggett (Canberra)
I would also like to invite other Schoies members to come along to the Interclub comps. As I have previously said it is a great way to hone and improve your flying skills. The comp starts with an instrument climb, which is followed by a forced landing (right down to the ground). There is sometimes an optional event such as a blind circuit or a flour bomb, and then the comp is finished with a spot landing. How many of you actually practice your forced landings in between bi-annual reviews? Not many, I bet! And, who knows when you may need to use it? Hopefully never but wouldn't it be nice to know that you could do it automatically, without having to think about it?
Please come along and enjoy great camaraderie and flying with us at the Interclubs.
If you require any information about either the Club comps or the Interclub comps please contact either John Hook or Peter Cunningham and they will be able to give you all the information.
Rae Cauchi
My first flying lesson in 1968 - who am I? WHO AM I? Here is a photo my dad took in 1968 when I had my first flying lesson. This was at a small aerodrome in outer Melbourne called Whittlesea. It does not exist any more. My next lesson was 21 years later at Schoies. Question: Who is the club member having his first flying lesson in 1968? Answer next month.
Peter Kestle THANK YOU, PETER KESTLE: I would like to thank Peter Kestle for the roll he has played CP/CFI under difficult and I'm sure trying times. He has always been available to any Instructor and I think any student at any time and tried to keep us in the loop as much as possible. Without the effort Peter supplied we would not have been in the condition we are in now and I believe that he is handing over to Pat a viable operation to expand upon. I just hope Peter stays around Schoies and continues with his Instructing prowess, we can all learn from him. Thank PK from at least one appreciative Instructor. Submitted by Wayne Russell.
GREETINGS FROM COLORADO: Hi to all our new-found friends at Schofields. Just a note of thanks to all who made our visit to Australia and our flying vacation in October a rousing success! Everyone we met at the club was helpful and friendly to us "yanks" as we figured out what flying "down under" was all about!
Howard We met too many folks to thank individually, but we especially want to mention the hospitality extended to us both before and during our visit by Sheri and Nelson Crawshaw, and after we arrived, my instructors who taught me the special ropes of Bankstown, and Mike, who enthusiastically guided the Harbour Tour, and so many others!
Hank flies a very nice C-182 (VH-MIG) and was good enough to let Diana and me take it on our almost 20 hours tour of Australia in November right after it was so beautifully painted. I'm sure he wondered if it would every come back - and what it would look like when it did! But we returned it without so much as a fly spec on the wings (Phil and Audrey helped with the wash bucket after our last flight-the harbor tour-in MIG)! Hank - you have a beautiful plane.
Thanks again to Nelson and Sheri, and Mike, and Peter and Daniel, and Suzanne, and Hank, and all the rest who helped us feel at home. You are a great group! Enjoy your Tassie trip in December! (And do stop by to see us if you are in the USA - we're just north of Denver - I guess that would be about Ayer's rock relatively speaking!) Submitted by Howard Abraham
Derek Fok GREETINGS FROM ADELAIDE! Sorry its been a while since my last contact, but its been quite hectic here at Parafield since my arrival about 3 months ago. In this time we have had a mixture of ground school and part time flying. The schedule is quite hectic as the facilities are stretched to the limit with the ever growing pool of cadets from numerous airlines.
My flying progress has been quite good, and still reaping benefits from the solid foundation I established at Schoies. I was one of the first to go solo on the Grob G115, and was the first to obtain my GFPT by quite a few weeks. In fact, I have caught up with and overtaken all of the Emirates and China Airlines cadets who started up to 2 months before us!
Now, I am in the midde of my conversion course to the Tobago TB10, and I'm expecting my check to come maybe Wednesday or Friday, after which I will be endorsed to fly single pistons with CSUs. Also, my first nav flight is coming on Monday, and lots of other stuff like sims happening.
I will be coming back to Sydney briefly next weekend, I was hoping to come and visit Schofields if time permits, and possibly have a fly in SFR! Hope to catch up with everyone soon. Submitted by Derek Fok.
"I have done 17½ crossings of the Pacific and I
guess you have come to hear about the half flight"
When playing BBQ chefs for the Club's many events, fellow committee member Peter Whiteman and I often discussed fun times we had been to over the years. Peter would regularly tell me how much he enjoyed the hangar parties he attended when in the RAAF. I always thought what a great idea, but who do we know with a hangar? Enter another committee member Scott Pringle (the Club's LAME) who also thought this was a good idea for a party and was kind enough to provide his premises for the night.
From there we put together a Xmas working group drawing upon available talents within the existing committee as well as from our member ranks. The tasks to be organized for the night included static displays with an aviation flavour. From the pictures you will have noted the Cessna Citation representing the jet age and in the other corner we had the high wing Comper Swift (compliments of Club member Roy Fox) along side Scott's 1926 dodge for a trip down memory lane.However the most important guest for the night was past member Lyn Gray. I was fortunate to have been on a couple of Club flyaway events with Lyn and we had also worked together at the Avalon air show. It was great she was able to join us on the night and provide one of the most riveting talks we have had. You could have heard a pin drop during her presentation and the number of partners who told me how they hung off every word just highlighted what a great communicator Lyn is and what a fantastic story she had to tell. With the opening words along the lines "I have done 17½ crossings of the Pacific and I guess you have come to hear about the half flight" really set the tone for her talk.
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By 11PM most members and guests had headed home and the committee and support crew started the cleanup phase. This was completed on the Sunday to ensure Scott's hangar was ready for business first thing Monday morning.
A vote of special thanks goes to all those who made it possible, especially you our members whose continued support for these occasions just inspires us to keep them going.
With this being the last event of the year, on behalf of the committee and support crews from all our events this year have a happy and safe Xmas and we look forward to seeing you at the Club next year.
Peter Blackbourn
Clubhouse Services and Events
WIND CALCULATIONS: Last month I discussed a straightforward trigonometric solution suitable for programming your HP-50g or TI-84 or maybe an Excel spreadsheet to perform flight planning type wind calculations. As promised, this month is a solution to in-flight wind calculations. As before, layout is a bit awkward with the limited character set:
Given HDG, TMG, TAS and GS, how do you calculate W/V?
The problem on a Nav Computer
DEFINITIONS
DR = drift (right drift is negative)
WD = wind direction
WS = wind speed
TAS = true air speed
HDG = heading
GS = ground speed
x = angle between heading and wind direction
TMG = track made good
FORMULAE
DR = HDG - TMG
WS² = GS² + TAS² -2*TAS*GS*cos(DR)
sin(x) = sin(DR)*GS/WS
IF TAS < GS*cos(DR) THEN x=180-x {check whether headwind or tailwind}
WD = HDG + x
EXAMPLE (Try this on your Kane also)
HDG 125, TMG 130, TAS 175, GS 195; calculate wind direction and speed?
SOLUTION
DR = 125 - 130
= -5 (negative, so drift is right)
WS² = 195² + 175² - 2*175*195*cos(-5)
= 660
WS = 26
sin(x) = sin(-5)*195/26
= -0.654
x = -41
{175 < GS*cos(DR) = 195*cos(-5) = 194, therefore a tailwind}
x = 180 - (-41)
= 221
WD = 125 + 221
= 346
ANSWER
W/V = 346/26
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: "Fly your aircraft as far into the crash as possible. If you're going to have a prang, it's better to do it sliding along the ground than from 200 feet up in the air" - Bob Hoover.
Latrodectus
© 2003 Schofields Flying Club Ltd. All Rights Reserved.