Pilot -julkaisun December 2023 -irtonumeron sisällysluettelo

LAA Bursaries for post-solo students The Light Aircraft Association (LAA ) is currently seeking applications for Armstrong-Isaacs bursaries. These are administered by the LAA and sponsored by the Armstrong-Isaacs Fund, which was instigated by David Armstrong, a founder member in 1947 of the original ULAA (Ultra-Light Aircraft Association) later known as the Popular Flying Association, which became the LAA. Pilots who are under thirty years of age and are already in training are eligible to apply for the bursaries, which offer financial assistance to supplement personal funding in the later stages of the PPL course. To be considered, applicants must have reached first solo standard, completed a minimum of five hours solo flying, hold a valid medical and have passed the necessary ground examinations. The LAA’s statement added, ‘since UK…

WT9 Dynamic TurboFLIGHT TEST Lined up on Runway 07, I open the throttle up to the stop. The Dynamic surges forward, my right thumb presses a small button at the base of the throttle quadrant and I push the lever further forward. In an instant there’s fifteen per cent more thrust and the speed tape really starts to roll. Ease back on the stick and we’re airborne after a very short ground roll and climbing away at well over 1,200fpm. Flaps up, and twenty seconds later we’re passing through 400ft, I pull the power back past the detent and the Turbocharger Control Unit (TCU) reduces boost to 35in MAP (manifold air pressure). I then lower the nose, dial the propeller rpm down to 5,500 and note the VSI is still…

If the expression ‘golden era’ means anything to you, then you might well use it for the current period when describing the prospects of aspiring pilots. In the course of three years, we went from the deep turmoil of Covid to an unexpectedly strong rebound in airline travel, which has caught carriers short of pilots but has also allowed them to raise fares significantly, often boosting their financial position. The prospects for commercial pilots have rarely been better and, if this is the career you want to pursue, you have many good choices at your disposal today. This article will help you make sense of the steps you need to take. Let’s start with some astounding facts to summarise the growth of the industry: both the largest and the second…

NOTABLE NOTES Vital charging points A special report on the network of airfield electrical charging points established by NeboAir p8 NOTABLE NOTES Good planning? The other side to airfield planning proposals – those that help survival p11 NOTABLE NOTES Grab that bursary! If you are under thirty and have gone solo, the LAA can help you complete your PPL p12 Piper’s ancestral home under threat? William T Piper Memorial Airport, possibly better known as Lock Haven, and the Pennsylvania former home of the Piper Aircraft Corporation, may be sold by the City of Lock Haven. Despite generating more than $13m annually, it is claimed that the airport is not making enough money to justify continued operation by the city, as the profits generated by the airport do not return to…

Airbus testing single-stick helicopter control Airbus Helicopters has announced that its ‘FlightLab’ demonstrator has successfully proved an electric flight control system. Marking a first in the helicopter industry, the three conventional pilot controls – cyclic stick, collective lever and torque pedals, have all been replaced by a single stick. This new system is in preparation for a new human machine interface (HMI) that will equip CityAirbus NextGen, Airbus’s eVTOL prototype and represents an important step towards ushering in a new generation of electric powered UAM (urban air mobility) aircraft. The pilot controls have been considerably simplified thanks to the enhanced assistance provided by the electric flight control system and its single stick, which allows the pilot to control the aircraft in all axes. Using the single stick, the pilot can…

Sitting in the captain’s seat, I am about to fly my first Concorde takeoff and the sweat is beginning to form on my brow. I wasn’t expecting this degree of apprehension – I have former Concorde pilot and BA training captain John Tye in the right-hand seat, acting as my tutor – but this simulator is so convincing, so involving, that my mind is completely taken up with absorbing and acting upon the briefing I have just received. And the last thing I want is to flunk it – especially with another veteran, former BA Concorde Chief Pilot Mike Bannister behind us in the cockpit, looking on. “Right, man,” I say to myself “Concentrate!” This session in the Brooklands Museum’s unique, ex-BA sim is the first of three that will…

To see the monthly calendar online, visit www.pilotweb.aero UNITED KINGDOM NOVEMBER 2023 12 Breighton, N Yorks, Remembrance Sunday, realaero.com/bugle.html 12 East Kirkby, Lincs, Remembrance Sunday, lincsaviation.co.uk/events/ 12 Stow Maries, Essex, Remembrance Parade, stowmaries.org.uk/events 19 Kempton Park Racecourse, Middlesex, Heathrow Aircraft Enthusiasts Fair, aircraftenthusiastfair.co.uk/id3.html 25 RAF Museum London, Hendon, Historic Aircraft Association Annual Symposium, haa-uk.aero 25-26 Aerospace Bristol, Patchway, S Glos, Concorde20 Anniversary Weekend, aerospacebristol.org/concorde20 26 Army Flying Museum, AAC Middle Wallop, Hants, Aircraft Enthusiasts’ Fair & Model Show, armyflying.com/what-s-on/events/ DECEMBER 2023 2 Compton Abbas, Dorset,Christmas Fly-in, comptonairfield.com/events/ FEBRUARY 2024 24-25 Runway Visitor Park, Manchester Airport, Gtr Manchester, Aviation Memorabilia Fair, tasmanchester.com/aviationfair MARCH 2024 24 The Helicopter Museum, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset,‘Behind the Scenes’ Spotters Day, helicoptermuseum.co.uk/events.htm APRIL 2024 5-6 Weston Airport, Dublin, Ireland, Private Flyer Fest Ireland, privateflyershow.com/ireland/ 27 Turweston, Northants, VAC…

Scampton development plans revealed Scampton Holdings Ltd has unveiled further details of its plan to transform the former RAF Scampton site, which promises to bring thousands of highly-skilled jobs to Lincolnshire. The company aims to redevelop the airfield in five distinct phases over the next twelve years, ‘honouring the legacy’ of the Dambusters squadron and the Red Arrows, but also to ‘elevate the location as a hallmark of the aerospace industry’. At the heart of this £300 million revitalisation endeavour lies the creation of the A46 Midlands Aerospace Corridor, which is ‘poised to shift the epicentre of high-tech investment and innovation towards Lincolnshire’. Stretching from Warwick and Coventry universities, encompassing the Leicester Space Park, extending through ASI at Newark, and reaching the University of Lincoln and RAF Scampton before culminating…

New & restored registrations Cancellations Notes Close examination of the changes this month reveals the unusual practice of re-allocating the same registration, in this case G-GBNI. On 25 September 2023 the original G-GBNI, a 2020-vintage Airbus A321, was re-registered as G-OATW and, on 28 September 2023, 2019-vintage Airbus A321 G-POWT was re-registered as G-GBNI, the second use of this registration.…

Shuttleworth Race Day The 2023 display season at Old Warden ended on 1 October with the traditional Race Day Air Show. This unique event celebrates the passion that Richard Shuttleworth had for racing motor vehicles and aircraft, giving ‘wheels an equal billing with wings’. Fifty-or-so owners of pre-1940 era cars and motorcycles were invited to display them in a special paddock and ‘sprint’ them along the grass runway. This Race Day will be remembered for the debut of triple World Land Speed Record-holder, Sir Malcolm Campbell’s 350hp Sunbeam Blue Bird on loan from the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. Built in 1920 at Wolverhampton, it has a 18,322cc Sunbeam Manitou V12 aero engine originally designed for the Short 184 seaplane. The afternoon’s flying included a simulated handicap air race around…