Pilotの May 2023 の目次

The theme of this ‘Preflight’ was inspired by close inspection of one of Keith Wilson’s detail images of this issue’s flight test aircraft, the estimable Piper Comanche (about which you can safely say they really don’t make them like they used to). Puzzling over that aeroplane’s idiosyncratic ‘clock dial’ fuel selector, I spotted two artefacts you’d not expect to be there. I mean, would you associate our flight test contributor Bob Davy with a loose screw, or a nut in the cockpit? The foreign bodies were found post-flight… I am sorry – what is it you are laughing at? There’s a serious point to be made here, as even a little screw (come on!) can potentially cause trouble in a light aircraft. One of three failures I encountered in the…

Skills tests, annual flight reviews, biennial flight reviews, sim checks, line checks, type conversions, class ratings… All through our flying lives, we’re constantly checked. And of course, we all always fly worse under scrutiny. Today, I intend to complete my annual flight review at the gliding club with the famous Les: first in the K-7 before we switch to the SF-25 for the motor glider work. I haven’t flown a glider for an unusually long time, probably because in the winter these days I often just go for a ‘sleigh ride’ in the SF-25, simply motoring up to around 5,000ft directly upwind, then turning the engine off and slowly drifting back. Les is a real ‘old school’ glider pilot, having been CFI, Tug Master, Regional Examiner etc at several clubs,…

Mishandled hand-over Aircraft Type: Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee 140 Date & Time: 4 August 2022 at 0935 Commander’s Flying Experience: CPL, 526 hours (of which 230 were on type) Last 90 days: 71 hours Last 28 days: 32 hours The intended flight was a circuit training detail for a PPL student. The instructor and student had flown together previously and met in the flying school to discuss the sortie content. The instructor’s preference was to conduct circuits at Bristol Airport, where the operator is based, as he felt this would be the most beneficial for the student. However, circuit training at Bristol was not available due to high traffic levels and so the instructor selected Cotswold Airport (Kemble) as an alternate. The plan was to transit to Kemble, join the circuit,…

It must have been a rerun of The English Patient that planted the seed. With its sweeping cinematography inspired by David Lean’s epic Lawrence of Arabia, the sight and sound of Ralph Fiennes and Kirsten Scott Thomas in their Tiger Moth, goggles lowered and silk scarves trailing in the wind as they flew low over the vast expanse of the North African desert, it was – to a Tiger Moth pilot and a bit of an old romantic like myself – inspiring. For a while I’d been thinking seriously about popping the question to my partner, Catherine. We made a good team, especially when she acted as my ‘Nav’, either in the back seat of a Super Cub or up front in a Tiger Moth. Unfortunately, a recent flight in…

Sam Worthington-Leese is a most engaging and driven man. I was at Duxford for a reboot of the Typhoon project. Sam’s grandfather, Roy Worthington, was a Tiffy pilot. He was lucky enough to be shot down in May 1944 over Holland and put in the bag. Lucky? Well, fortunate really, because 56% of Typhoon pilots were killed. He survived, and eventually Sam was created. Sam is now behind a project to rebuild a Typhoon, and incorporated into it will be a small number of parts from his grandfather’s aeroplane. You probably know what a Typhoon was – and hopefully one day was becomes is. To recap, it was a clean-sheet single seater from the drawing board of Sydney Camm. It was designed from the outset to be powered by the…

Brilliant, bargain-price avionics back-up Yaesu FTA-850L handheld transceiver with GPS, NAV & ILS functions £390 My Vans RV-7 has a panel radio, as have all the aircraft I’ve owned or flown in the past – so I’ve never had the need for a handheld. This Yaesu FTA-850L, which the Editor has asked me to review, is the first I’ve ever had my hands on. What a piece of kit. It turns out that it is not just a wireless but that it also features GPS, NAV and even ILS functions. A fairly comprehensive instruction manual comes with the device, which I spent a few hours reading while listening to Heathrow’s approach frequency. With Flightradar open as well, you can waste valuable working time that is meant to be spent writing.…

Decades ago, my wife announced she wanted to fly. Probably a case of if you can’t beat them, join them! But it also made sense, as we frequently travelled together by air. The well remembered traumas of being taught to drive by parents prompted me to suggest that it would be better if I didn’t get involved, but rather rely on a flying school. This also made practical sense, as although instructing within the military, I had not yet bothered to get a civil FI qualification. She whizzed through the syllabus, getting into the circuit quickly. Here things stagnated. Many hours and much money seemed to be consumed, and still no solo. I lost count of how often I was told that “They say I’m really close”. Eventually, I put…

Historians support Council move to save Scampton The saga of RAF Scampton took a new turn recently, when the government announced it was planning to house asylum seekers at the historic airfield. Only last month it was announced that West Lindsey District Council (WLDC) was planning to purchase the site from the Ministry of Defence, and then transfer ownership to its new development partner Scampton Holdings Limited. The deal, which was projected to secure over £300 million of investment into the regeneration of the historic 800-acre site, was intended to ‘preserve, protect and enhance the site’ by providing aviation heritage, business, aerospace, space and aviation technology and education opportunities, according to a statement from the Council. Since the closure of the base was announced in 2018, the Council has worked…

STAR LETTER More Bonanza tales Ah! The Beech A36. A great machine. A good write up on the model in the February 2023 issue. I have to disagree with Dave Unwin, though, on the heritage of the model. I am of the view that the Beech Bonanza in reality finished with the end of the V35 model. The Beech Spin Doctor got a bonus for slapping the title onto the Beech 36 model. It helped sell the aircraft. The VW Beetle is not the VW Polo. Also, I’d like to add a few thoughts on the flight test. The 1984 Beech A36 would have had a Continental IO-520 engine in it. The test aircraft has both an up-rated engine and a modified panel. Also, when flying the machine, one must…

“What do you remember about the Barracuda Robbie? From what I’ve read, it wasn’t one of the greats.” Geoffrey ‘Robbie’ Robson, ex- Fleet Air Arm pilot and WWII veteran shakes his head and grins ruefully. “No, it wasn’t great,” he allows “but I’ll tell you one thing it was great at – deck landing”. “The thing had so much drag with everything down that you needed lots of power on final just to maintain 85 – while descending! Then, when the batsman gave you the cut and you snapped the throttle closed, it just stopped flying.” “So, it just sat straight down?” I ask. “It sat down,” he replied “and, more importantly, stayed down.” Robbie was born in born on 27 August 1925, at Farnah Green in Derbyshire and grew…

A friend recently sent me the FAA Aviation Circular 120/123, which at last states the necessity for airline pilots to be able to fly their aeroplanes properly, including by hand without a flight director. Former professional pilots like me have been banging on about this for decades. Those two (or, occasionally more) pilots up front are your only safeguard between minor mishap and potential calamity. Mostly they will simply be programming and monitoring the automatics, but when ‘the chips are down’ only they can save the aeroplane and those lives within it. My former airline ‘encouraged manual flying… in suitable weather’ but did permit its pilots to engage an autopilot once they were above 250ft (a maximum of two minutes from start of takeoff) until the end of the landing…