Sydney Flyer - Musings of an Air Safari Pilot Transform You Flying Skills - Sydney Flying Club

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Sydney Flyer - Musings of an Air Safari Pilot Transform You Flying Skills - Sydney Flying Club
Sydney Flyer                                                Page ! 1

               Sydney Flyer
                  Oct/Nov 2018 Volume 5 Issue 3

  Musings of an
  Air Safari Pilot

  Transform You                   My Only Emergency
  Flying Skills                   in 25 Years of Flying

  How and                                         Milestones
  Why We Fail        Deep Stall 2                 and Dead Ends
Sydney Flyer - Musings of an Air Safari Pilot Transform You Flying Skills - Sydney Flying Club
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   From the President

  The Board has been very busy over the past few          Club member Andrew Antal who recently rented a
months and there have been some fantastic results.      Cirrus in the USA says "Knowing that the club has
You can be assured that your Board is working           secured an ultra-modern SR22T Cirrus which has
tirelessly to promote aviation, spread the freedom of   more technology than the space shuttle provides me
flying and present opportunities for anyone with an     with an added incentive to obtain an Instrument
interest in aviation to associate with like minded      Rating and take this plane to remote parts of
people.                                                 Australia”. Now Andrew does not need to fly to the
                                                        USA to enjoy this marvel of technology!
  The work of the Board continues with strong
support and a mandate from members and I am               A quick word regarding the financials: according to
pleased to announce a string of achievements since      KPMG's rating our solvency ratios (at 2.05), cash
the AGM in May:                                         balances, gross margin, indirect costs control, club
                                                        revenues, net profits and overall performance as to
  • A five year contract with TAFE for the
                                                        the end of July are either "excellent" or
   provision of flight training for its Diploma of
                                                        "extraordinary".
   Aviation program
                                                          I mentioned in a previous edition of this magazine,
  • Strong profits from the TAFE involvement,
                                                        that I would like to introduce you to the other board
   underpinning the financial viability of SFC into
                                                        members. In the August–September edition you
   the future
                                                        heard from Steve Kastanias and now for this edition
  • Part 142 Certification — an outstanding             let me introduce you to Yaron Nahmias.
   achievement by Chris Koort and his team
                                                         Yaron’s love affair with aviation started at an early
  • The purchase of a Cirrus aircraft as part of our    age. Yaron always looked up to the air and dreamed
   fleet renewal — bringing cutting edge technology     of the day he would take to the sky.
   of which members can be proud and more planes
                                                         When Yaron was sixteen he joined the air scouts
   to come...
                                                        and at the age of 18 he had his first chance to fly and
  Joseph Pilo, CEO, says about the Cirrus SR22T:        had three flights in a piper cub as a scout activity.
“It’s a quality, high tech, safe, modern club-owned
                                                         I will let Yaron continue with his story…
aircraft prioritised for private and Club use….an
advanced, high performance modern light                  Amir Hyster
aircraft ...with the capacity to Fly Into Known Icing    President
(FIKI) at 25,000 feet, and with the Cirrus Aircraft
Parachute System (CAPS), advanced to the minute         Yaron Nahmias
weather systems, air conditioning and satellite           It took almost 10 years
phone".                                                 before I decided to turn my
  I will add that the SR22 has been the most            dream into a reality and
advanced light aircraft available for nearly 20 years   started flying lessons at
with multi-function displays, upset and recovery        Bankstown. I got my GFPT
systems, SVT, EVS and many more advanced                back in 2000 which was a
technologies.                                           dream come true. Unfortunately due to family
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and financial limitations I did not complete my         I have a strong belief that what’s not tracked
PPL and stopped flying for nearly eight years.        cannot be managed. This is why in the past two
                                                      years with my fellow directors we have insisted
  I was fortunate to go to a lunch in late 2008
                                                      on creating accurate budget tracking, plane
where I found at the same table a fellow pilot. He
                                                      maintenance reports, flying hours reports (planes
told me about his flying which reignited my
                                                      and instructors) and have helped to standardise
passion to get into the sky again. I asked if I
                                                      the operation reports.
could join Chris (my friend) on his flight next
time he flew and he agreed. This was when I was         Not surprisingly, implementing these reports
introduced to Schofields Flying Club. Chris flew      exposed a number of issues that required urgent
us to Wollongong in the Diamond DA40 that the         attention. The club had to find ways to reduce
club cross-hired at that time — it was incredible!    operating costs, increase profitable revenue and
I made my mind up to get back into flying and         improve the assets the club owns. The financials
signed up as a club member and got my PPL with        were very clear and indicated that if the club
the club in 2009. I am happy to say that I have       continued to operate the same way it would not
not stopped flying ever since.                        survive. The collection of quality data and
                                                      implementation of improvement takes time, but I
  As a passionate aviator who loves flying, pilots
                                                      am happy to say that after just over two years on
and planes, I saw the opportunity to join the SFC
                                                      the board I can see the recovery coming this year
board as a way to contribute my professional
                                                      with strong prospects for the near and medium
experience to the promotion of aviation to like
                                                      term future. The club operational costs have
minded people.
                                                      been reduced, the profitable revenue is
  That’s why I decided to put my self forward for     increasing and there are further achievements as
election to join the SFC board in 2016. I was very    outlined in the President’s report above.
lucky and honoured to be elected.
                                                        There is still much work to be done to ensure
  At the time I joined the board, I had over 20       club revenue is secured, but the actions taken by
years experience in IT and at various levels of       the SFC directors and management team gives
management. At the time I was elected I was and       me great hope for a very bright future.
still am a director in Optus. My professional life
                                                        The board had to make some tough decisions
requires intimate knowledge of financials,
                                                      on club fleet. Club maintenance reports indicated
technology, people and process: this is the
                                                      that the club had extremely high maintenance
experience that I thought I could contribute to
                                                      costs for club-owned planes while the percentage
SFC.
                                                      of time planes were actually available to be used
  The first year on the board was very interesting,   was extremely low. It became very clear that the
the club faced many challenges — the future           club was loosing money on the old fleet —
direction of the Board was unclear, funds to run      without much benefit, planes were in some cases
the business were depleted, the aircraft fleet was    90% of the time in no state to fly which resulted
ageing, the cost of maintenance was huge and          in extremely low air time per annum. The board
increasing, there were few club activities, there     decided it was time to take action and sell the
was growing concern of air space closure once         planes that were creating a huge financial
the second Sydney airport is built and many           burden, cash drain and drag on our club’s
other such challenges.                                growth. We can safely say that from a financial
  My professional experience tells me that if you     point of view this decision is helping the club
focus on too many items at once you may not           progress toward a new fleet. To ensure club
achieve your target. For me the key area of focus     flying is not impacted, more cross-hired planes
were the financials, social activities and business   were found to replace the departing planes.
growth.
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  As for the club social side, one of my key         our club will deliver aviation dreams to many
aspirations for the club was to have a vibrant and   others for many years to come.
active social environment for club members. As         I would like to thank all members for taking
the chairman of the marketing and members            part in the club activities and I hope to see you in
relationship committee, I advocated in board         future club events.
meetings for the establishment of social Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs)to increase the
amount of club social activity.                      Yaron Nahmias
  The creation by the board of the marketing and
members relationship committee that I chair,
resulted in the establishment of a club social
committee under the leadership of George
Higgins. I would like to thank George for his
contribution over the past 2 years. Also, thanks
to David Jaffray, we have a wonderful newsletter
that has become a quality aviation magazine.
Since the first edition, June-July 2014, it has
provided a forum for members to share their
experiences and for the Board and management
to keep members up-to-date.
  It is pleasing that the number of Club flying
and social events has grown substantially
supported by a rich schedule of events.
  The Board has made time to meet and
understand club members — we are very pleased
to see that we are hitting over 350 today, a
substantial increase from 2 years ago. As we are
always looking to improve, some club events will
change in the future with the aim of appealing to
a larger, broader population of members.
  With the assistance of the COO and CEO we
will be looking at creating a vibrant and dynamic
calendar of club events to suit more club
members and increase the participation rate —
you will hear more on this closer to the end of
the year.
  When I walk into the club now, it is pleasing to
see the increase in activity at the club and the
professional attention given to members by the
desk and flying instructors. It is a definitely an
improved environment to what I remember from
2 years ago.
 I look back at the past two years of being on the
Board with great satisfaction. I am proud of my
part in promoting aviation and helping ensure
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                                                                                         Carolyn Fielding

    Musings of an Air Safari Pilot
  Just what was I thinking when I emailed Chris           the first few days — talk about adding to my
Muller to say I was interested in joining SFC’s           anxiety! Sydney and Brisbane and those nice guys
Cape York Air Safari? Mostly I was thinking he’d          in Willy tower used to be the only zones on the
forget to email me back or say there was no               east coast. How was I going to fudge making
accommodation left, but no joy there as I                 others think I was somewhat competent!
subsequently discovered Chris doesn’t forget                           ––––––––––––––––––––––
anything! By this time I happened to have
mentioned it to my sister and her husband, so I             The big day arrives and we don life jackets, give
now had two keen passengers. I was glad my                our passengers the safety briefings and tell them
sister didn’t realise that all those flying hours I       to commit them to memory. We depart
had been racking up over the last thirty-five years       Bankstown and head north. I manage
was nearly exclusively 747 hours in cattle class          Williamtown and Coffs Harbour control zones
and definitely not on the flight deck. I had kept         and land at Ballina to refuel and that was the last
up with technology and could competently check            of the known terrain. We have a picnic lunch in
in and book online and operate the inflight               the lee of a hanger then take off for Caloundra
entertainment system, so of course I would be             QLD. We struggle through the Gold Coast
able to navigate on an iPad, if I actually bought         dodging helicopters left and right. Scenery is
one … I hoped!                                            spectacular especially as we are mostly at 500 ft
                                                          and sand islands, deltas and sea life that is not
  First things first — at least I was flying a            seen from the ground appears all around us. The
Cessna 172 which I had done most of my                    bummer is no autopilot, so I can’t make the most
training on and had flown (under supervision) to          of the view, I can only hear my excited
Ballina in the last year, so was sort of confident I      passengers exclaiming over this whale and that
could get that far. I decided I still needed real, i.e.   land form.
paper, maps (don’t laugh), so I at least had an
overall picture of where I was going. I updated             Finally by the end of the second day we are
my 1982 maps and added a few more. The down               through six control zones to historic
side I discovered with new maps was that I                Rockhampton — stunning old buildings
would be traversing about eight control zones in          including customs house on the Fitzroy River.
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   Thank goodness for the air force. They teach         By the time we reach Cooktown I am
their air traffic controllers to enunciate clearly so   reasonably proficient with control zones —
they are easily understood on the radio — makes       which we have now run out of — as I’ve now
life so much easier when you can hear what they       been through Townsville and the final one
are asking you to do! In Rocky, the evening’s         Cairns.
safety meeting is held in the Criterion Pub which      At Cooktown, with an imminent rest day
turns into dinner. Discussion is about arriving       ahead, we relax and enjoy the local prawns and
into Shute Harbour, so forewarned I make sure I       coral trout from the hotel balcony (after the
Google and digest the information Chris has           safety meeting of course) while the sun sets.
disseminated. I decide that my research has been
well worth the time spent, when we land at              From Cooktown on is familiar as my husband
Shute Harbour somewhat respectably, with all          Michael and I have done the four wheel drive up
passengers intact — which is more than can be         the old tracks, so we aren’t expecting anything
said about the sightseeing plane which disgorges      too exciting or new, but it is amazing how much
a number of passengers to throw up on the grass       of Australia’s coastline is inaccessible by road.
as they alight just after us.                         Unfortunately there is a lot of mining
                                                      infrastructure affecting our remote and not so
                                                      remote coastal regions that all Australians need
                                                      to be aware of. Heading inland we have a couple
                                                      of options as for the first time we have some
                                                      clouds on the horizon (literally) and some very
                                                      big hills (read mountains) so have carefully
                                                      chosen the lowest route to Coen to refuel. Lunch
                                                      is at Bramwell Station — my first dirt strip for a
                                                      long time. I avoid the drainage ditch along the
                                                      parking area, find the least rocky spot to
                                                      minimise dings in the prop on start up — there
      Arriving around the northern hill via
                                                      is no option to find grass in drought affected
   recommended ‘dogleg’ into Shute Harbour
                                                      Queensland.
                                                        We arrive at Bamaga after negotiating bushfire
                                                      smoke. Of course Chris has arranged yet more
                                                      excellent accommodation including pool, Saibai
                                                      Islander concert and meals.
                                                       On our day off, Michael and I opt for a fourteen
                                                      kilometre walk and refamil of nearby Seisia as
                                                      we’d previously done the cape.
                                                        We head coastal the next day to take in the
                                                      most northerly tip of Australia from 500 ft then
  One day later depar;ng Shute Harbour around         on to Horn Island. Our AQIS (quarantine
   the headland avoiding Hamilton Island CTA          requirements for coming back to the mainland)
                  under 1000 B                        details are also sorted out for our departure the
  Through Cairns, we opt for the inland route —       next day. After wandering around for a while a
over land rather than the longer sea route —          few of us arrange to ferry across to Thursday
which tracks us alongside very high escarpments       Island (TI) early, as unfortunately the only thing
(3337 ft) narrowing to a road at Buchan Point         Chris didn’t cater for was souvenir shopping. A
where we need to be under 1000 ft.                    few of our number have other priorities than
                                                      flying and sightseeing and it isn’t only the ladies
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on the trip that need to purchase unique items        as our aircraft had the certificate to use it.
for family and friends. Unfortunately TI residents    Unfortunately due to a rash of four wheel drivers
are still in the 1970s and there are no shops         it is not so easy to taxi into country towns these
open. Adjourning to the pub, Kerrie and I chat to     days. In Karumba, my Michael has a chat with
the barman bemoaning the fact and lo and              the local petrol station and borrows PQK’s
behold a local lady next to us offers to rouse her     collapsible jerrycans fills them up and then
friend to open her pearl shop across from the         borrows Glen and Michael Quigg (the other
pub. Some time later after perusing the lovely        Michael) to help pour the fuel into our high
local island handicrafts and south sea pearls, I      winged aircraft in a 20 knot crosswind. You need
inform Michael he’s bought me a lovely pearl          a shower afterwards if not very careful. Our JZJ
necklace even though he hasn’t left the bar —         then runs beautifully down to Burketown on
the miracle of the modern credit card. Kerrie also    $1.70/l unleaded 91 and it saves us having to
finds some lovely jewellery. It’s the night ferry     refuel at Normanton. Our trip continues with
back across luminescent water to Horn Island.         lots of experience dodging SFC aircraft arriving
                                                      and departing at all different speeds at country
  Next day, arriving at Karumba, on the west
                                                      airfields like Sweers Island and Adel’s Grove and
coast of the cape, via Coen — again for fuel as
                                                      this demonstrates very clearly the necessity of
Avgas is in short supply in North Qld because
                                                      keeping a good lookout and giving clear position
everyone must be FIFO in executive jets these
                                                      reports, as it is extremely difficult to spot an
days — Glen (in VH-OHS) has commandeered
                                                      aircraft ahead of you at the same height even
the motel’s transport and transfers us all from
                                                      knowing where to look.
the airfield. It’s amazing how the local moteliers
are happy to let one of us drive their vehicles.        At one of our safety meetings we decide to join
They obviously aren’t aware of just what he does      Chris on a side trip from Birdsville to Cameron
in his RV7!                                           Corner (land in SA, taxi thru NSW & refuel at
  Before departing on our trip I had been trying      QLD pub @ $2/l). I get a clear airfield briefing
to locate where it was easy to fill up on car fuel    (see serviette below) — the bush is really a 6 m

                                                                      tree

       If anyone goes out there (Cameron Corner) please lop that tree as it’s mesmerising on final
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tree! If anyone goes out there please lop that tree   to Dubbo where we have a council of war as to
as it’s mesmerising on final. One does need to        which way to proceed. With Chris leading in the
dodge the four wheel drives on the road and           Grumman Tiger we find our way around clouds
always watch that your tail is lined up straight to   to Bathurst initially, then creep over the
taxi through gates as we nearly collect the fence     countryside finding gaps in between hard (hills)
post with the horizontal stabiliser.                  and soft clouds to remain VFR. I am looking out
                                                      for Katoomba and can’t see it till the Three
                                                      Sisters appears suddenly on my left. We fly
                                                      around them and scrape through to Warragamba
                                                      and the rest is easy with PZF following our
                                                      directions arriving fifteen minutes later. It is a
                                                      two pilot operation — one to fly and one to
                                                      watch where to go ahead and keep options open
                                                      behind.
                                                       As usual Chris is waiting to make sure we
                                                      arrive safely as he did for all the SFC members
           I get a clear airfield briefing              each day of the trip.
                                                                    –––––––––––––––––––––
                                                       Would I recommend other members joining an
                                                      Air Safari — hell yes! Not only for the
                                                      spectacular scenery you can’t see any other way
                                                      and the great conversations with pilots and
                                                      passengers who come from all interesting
                                                      professions and experiences, but also the
                                                      advantage of hours of flying (which reinforces
                                                      skills) with a group of experienced pilots from
                                                      whom one learns a variety of helpful hints that
  Filling up with unleaded at Cameron Corner —        might otherwise take a lifetime to accumulate.
        the 4x4s have to wait un;l we move            Some handy hints I acquired are:
  Unfortunately, after lunch it is such a slow trip    • attend daily safety meetings — while not
back to Cunnamulla as we have to stop to pick          mandatory are necessary to acquire advice on
up some fuel at Thargomindah, but it is great          dealing with possible issues each day (but it
experience.                                            did mean my alcohol consumption
  One has to admire the way Chris has                  skyrocketed!)
negotiated with a higher authority for fourteen        • if you have a sticky solenoid, whack it with a
days of the most amazing weather, but our magic        wrench and your engine will start — I just need
weather ends on the last day — two of our              to find out exactly where to hit it.
contingent in faster aircraft head straight to
                                                       • it’s a great way to learn how to use all the
Bankstown from Birdsville due to the forecast
                                                       functions on an iPad* as someone else will
thunder storm belt. The rest depart from
                                                       know how to (but nothing beats a paper map
Cunnamulla, though PQK and DXF (both single
                                                       for real perspective)
pilots) track to Narromine where they’re are
regarded as Rain Gods due to the rain they bring       • other pilots still use paper maps
which keeps them grounded for two days.                • no pilot is perfect — although I was the easy
  Luckily we have the advantage of weather             one to identify on the radio
reports from Glen in his RV7 and we get through
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  • one must pack a good variety of Hawaiian
  shirts to compete with Chris’s wardrobe               2018 PRIVATE HIRE (incl GST)
  • I need to think about passengers next time (I       TYPE          VH         HIRE IFR LND
  could carry more fuel and/or shopping...)
                                                      Tomahawk        CNV         $180          $22
  • a Cessna is still the best touring aircraft as
  our little 180 HP 172 motored along like a           Warrior lI     INB         $260          $25
  champion.
                                                       Warrior II    BVM          $260   ✓      $25
  Did I survive being the old inexperienced
female pilot? Yep, but it would be nice to even up    Warrior III   SFK LXP       $260          $25
the ratios and many thanks to Kerrie, Britta and
                                                      Warrior III   ZFX ZFY       $260          $25
Dianne for being there. Also many thanks to
Chris for the hours of work he must have put in        Archer II      SFA         $285          $25
to ensure everything ran without a hiccup and
who herded us all along safely without losing                       NRB NRI
                                                       Archer II                  $285   ✓      $25
patience. We’re looking forward to the                               NRL
Kimberleys next year.
                                                       Archer III     SFR         $295   ✓      $25
  Note: I survived 15 days of flying with my
25,000 hour husband with only one lot of tears        Cherokee
                                                                      CDK         $360   ✓      $35
— my passengers were most impressed with my              6
fortitude. And he survived 15 days of being on a      Cessna 206      LZN         $445   ✓      $35
VFR flight though with probably a lot more grey
hair due to the proximity of water, hills and         Cessna 206      AZN         $465   ✓      $35
things he could see without multiple engines
keeping him aloft. Also, to give him credit, he let    Duchess       WZA          $470   ✓      $40
me fly it all by myself, although I did get lots of
advice!                                                 Cirrus
                                                                      DDP         $595   ✓      $35
                                                        SR22T
  *I have discovered NO one knows how to use
all the functions in those iPad programs!              Red Bird
                                                                      FMX         $115          N/A
                                                         FS

By Carolyn Fielding
                                                                      For full details
                                                            www.sfcaero.com.au/aircraft-rates
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   What is Double an Epic?
   The 2018 SFC Flyaway to Cape York

                                        The Tip of Cape York Peninsular

  Well, here I am again, three months later                Double the fuel stops — 23
writing about this year’s 2018 SFC flyaway to               Double (almost) the fleet — a sweet nine
Cape York… No, hang on, that was 12 months                aircraft
ago! I remember now, how excited I was
recounting all the great stuff that happened on             Double the people — 23 flying enthusiasts
the 2017 “Virgin Epic” flyaway to Coober Pedy.             Double the airspace — a week of Controlled
Dare I say … time flys too?                               Airspace (CTA), and a week of outback Class G
  But it seems like just last week Chris Muller             So what’s double an Epic.. I don’t know, maybe
went to market to get a new crew to join him on           there is no word for that one!
a new idea for another SFC flyaway in 2018. That
was in December 2017. “Hey guys let’s go to the           The plan
Cape”. My first reaction, “sounds good”. If Chris           Sounds quite simple. Keep the water to the
and SFC is organising it, I am going.                     right, fly North until there is no more land. Next,
  I didn’t think much past that really. After last        go a bit further to Horn Island, turn around and
year’s flyaway to Coober Pedy I’m a veteran…              come down the other side of the Cape with water
right? Let’s put the band back together…                  still on the right until the land turns right to
                                                          Darwin. Then come south past Birdsville until
  Well, like last year, I don’t know it all, not by a     we get home again.
long shot. Let’s recall some facts about what a
Cape York Epic is… compared to what we did in             What could go wrong.
2017 to Coober Pedy .                                       I am still trying to figure out how it still takes
 The word double keeps bouncing around in my              an hour every night to sort out where to and
mind. Let’s take an Epic and double it.                   from, how far, what height, what heading, what’s
                                                          the taxi phone number, what’s the hotel, where
  Double the distance — over 6,800 km
                                                          is the tour going, where is dinner, where is
  Double the days — 15 days, average 38 hours             breakfast in the morning and who has my
total flying time
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watch!? Damn, I left it at home. Quite a              different speeds , endurance and skills. ATC
whirlwind tour, but loving every minute.              incursions? — none. A testament to the
  And with Chris Muller at the helm, say no           Collective.
more. No major flaws in the plan… buses are
where they should be, meals mostly served on
time, aircraft all up and down each day intact,
then everyone sitting down to have a laugh and a
drink to discuss the day, and what’s next.

 The aircraft

                                                               Glen and Peter in Glen’s Vans R7

                                                      The airspace
                                                        The simplicity of the plan dissipates pretty
                                                      quickly with the realisation that CTA pretty well
                                                      stretches along the East Coast of Australia from
                                                      Bankstown to Cairns. No one told me this is a
 Nine aircraft — bigger than a Flight but not         CTA endurance exercise! So here we go — leave
quite a Squadron. A mobile Air Traffic Control          Bankstown CTA, have a break, then Williamtown
(ATC) nightmare.                                      Military CTA. Then Coffs Harbour International
                                                      CTA, Gold Coast CTA, Brisbane CTA, Sunshine
  Cessna is well represented this year — my
                                                      Coast CTA, Rockhampton CTA (voted the
C172F, a newer beautifully restored C172N the
                                                      friendliest controller of the trip), yeah, haven’t
Juliets (JZJ) and a way too shiny, too new,
                                                      finished yet, Mackay CTA, Hamilton Island CTA,
technologically brilliant with lots of leather
                                                      Townsville Military CTA, and lastly Cairns
C182. There’s no shortage of Pipers either — a
                                                      International CTA. Phew!
well looked after Cherokee that keeps up with
the best of the fleet; the old workhorse ‘Limo’         From the controller’s point of view we are a
Cherokee 6 (CDK), with speed and authority and        nightmare. Each airspace we transit, is for them,
fully kitted with the Chairman’s lounge; and two      a 30 minute time period of 9 aircraft with
well restored, fast, comfortable and good looking     different speeds, intentions and experience
Archers. There’s also a fast, slippery, cheeky        skipping through their airspace. Chris makes
Grumman Tiger (yeah- right Chris Muller’s             sure they know we are coming and they give us
ride!) Finally there is the plane that never          respect and get us safely on our way amidst the
seemed to fly — I would see it parked when I left     737s, 717s, King Airs and Dash 8s. When we
in the morning, and damn it, after 5 hours in the     finally burst into the silence of Class G Airspace
air I would land and there it would be parked         at Cooktown, I kinda miss my friends at Air
again at our destination. A beautiful, sleek, nasty   Services. Definitely a group of professionals that
Vans R7 with attitude. I am sure it flew half of      have my respect!
our hours.
                                                      The scenery
  So, with all these varying aircraft in the air
                                                        Breathtaking. We really do live in a diverse
together, what is the result? Somehow we all
                                                      ever-changing country. At a lot of the places we
take off within 30 minutes of each other, fly for a
                                                      visit, there are 4WD people that have spent
few hours then arrive within 30 minutes of each
other. Quite bizarre really, when you consider the
Sydney Flyer                                                                                     Page ! 12

                                      Enroute to the ;p of the Cape

weeks getting there. We have spent few hours.            We have some great stops with a total of three
Special? You bet.                                      rest days to relax and take in our beautiful
                                                       country.
  It is difficult to describe the thousand things we
see and feel, the spiritual serenity and                 The hotels are comfortable, friendly, have good
timelessness of Australia, even with a Lycoming        food, we go on some amazing tours, and
engine growling in our ears. This is why we come.      generally the population of Australia welcomes
                                                       this unlikely bunch of ‘pilots going to TIP’ into
  What is special, is that we beat nature by
                                                       their towns with open arms. Looking at it from
taking control of how we see it — being able to
                                                       their point of view — nine aircraft boldly lined
flit to that island in the Whitsundays, land at
                                                       up against the back fence of the local airfield like
that outback station for lunch or just sit under a
                                                       a fighter squadron. We arrive five minutes apart
tree at a world-renowned fishing spot looking
                                                       for 30 noisy minutes and take off five minutes
out at the Gulf.
                                                       apart for an even noisier 30 minutes. It is a
  Hard to comprehend it all, even now.                 statement. We are here, we eat, chat, laugh, feel,
                                                       see, respect, listen and then we are gone. I sense
The stops                                              our not so small group of aviators causes a bit of
  Well, it seems I land in every town in Australia.    a sensation as we move North to the Cape.
With up to three landings a day. The old saying        Sydney Flying Club is alive and well along the
you are only as good as your last landing is true,     East Coast of Australia all the way to Papua New
true, true. But we all land safely, on time, in an     Guinea (PNG)!
orderly fashion, without any incidents for 15
                                                         Just for the record, here we go with overnight
days straight. Pretty cool for a potential mobile
                                                       stops not including fuel stops:
ATC disaster. Do the math, 400 landings , nil
incidents.                                              Caloundra, Rockhampton, Airlie Beach,
                                                       Cooktown, Bamaga, Horn Island, Karumba,
                                                       Burketown, Adels Grove, Birdsville and
                                                       Cunnamulla.
Sydney Flyer                                                                                   Page ! 13

  My favourite is Horn Island, an ex WWII B-17        Cairns to Nowra. Two of the faster planes make a
bomber air base with cross runways that go            run for it from Birdsville a day early and get
forever. You can almost see PNG from 6500 feet.       through to Bankstown (YSBK) and Camden
Another favourite is Bramwell Station in the          respectively ahead of the storm. Another four go
middle of the Peninsula, a working cattle station     past Dubbo to Orange and Bathurst and the next
with a bush strip that a King Air could               day find a hole over Katoomba to scoot over the
comfortably get down on.                              mountains through, into YSBK. Some very
                                                      creative and skilful flying for those pilots that
The breakdowns                                        they won’t forget for a while. Well done guys and
  I think I have the most breakages with a broken     girls. The last two planes (mine being one) get
elevator — yes I do back it into a ditch, and no      caught in a three-day downpour at Narromine.
my plane doesn’t have a reverse gear — a sticky       We are revered by the locals as the Rain gods of
starter solenoid and a broken door handle. But        Narromine as we have brought the first rain for
hey, she is 53 years old, not bad for an old girl.    seven months. I guess that is the silver lining to
  Other than that, the rest of the fleet suffer in     that story. Still, Ron and I don’t mind watching
total another sticky solenoid, a broken door          the rain and TV for three days after 14 days of
handle, a failed front wheel gas strut, some faulty   hard solo flying. The locals all walk around in the
back up radios and a dicky ADSB or Transponder        rain laughing. We were smiling.
IFR thingy. But nothing that causes us not to all
get home safely — a pretty sound record for over      The people
400 flying hours amongst the nine aircraft.             Well, in one word: sensational. Some from last
                                                      year, some new, some not so new. Experience
The weather                                           ranging from a fresh PPL to 45 years in the air.
  Cloudless days, favourable winds — except for       but they have one thing in common — they want
always-windy-Cooktown — until the last day            to be here. That’s all you need to be to do
when Armageddon arrives in the shape of a             something like this — the want to do it. We all
drought-breaking storm front stretching from          love to talk about our planes, best height, best
Sydney Flyer                                                              Page ! 14

way to land at that airfield, what we see that day.
I sense no one is excluded from any
conversation. The comraderie is instant from          See SFC videos first!
Caloundra on that first night. All look over their
shoulder every day to make sure all are safe and
                                                         Subscribe to the
well within the SFC Collective. We all learn so         Sydney Flying Club
much more from the Collective than what we
give. We all enjoy being part of something so              Channel on
much bigger and more special than ourselves.
And of course we all thank Chris Muller, who
even on a cold morning before sunrise, appears
out of the mist in the dark to give a nervous solo
pilot some moral support to get his ride ready to
fly with a bush repaired elevator while everyone
else sleeps.

What’s next?
  So, in a very casual conversation over a beer
after a long day’s flying somewhere in the Gulf,
Chris says:
  “Michael (that’s me), I’ve been thinking, how
about the Kimberleys for 2019? Interested?”.
  Oh no here we go again…
  Maybe I will see you there next year. You have a
pilot’s licence, you want to go, but don’t know
anyone, maybe not confident enough. Well, that
was me one year ago.
 All you need to change your life and become
one of the few Aussies to see a blessed and
beautiful country, doing what few people in the
world can do, is to let Chris know you want to
go. Everything else will happen on its own.              Subscribe now:
 PS .Thanks to one friend at Longreach, and
another at Narromine, thanks for getting me                Click here.
home.
By Michael Quigg
Sydney Flyer                                                      Page ! 15

                Air Safari 2018 in Photos
                By Dianne Fielding

Day 1 – Bankstown to Caloundra       Day 3 Shute Harbour to Rockhampton

!                                    !

!                                    !

Day 2 – Caloundra to Shute Harbour   Day 4 Rockhampton to Cooktown

!                                    !

!                                    !
Sydney Flyer                                              Page ! 16

Day 5 – Cooktown           Day 7 – The Tip of Cape York

!                          !

!                          !
Day 6 – Bramwell Station   Day 8 – Horn Island

!                          !

!                          !
Sydney Flyer                                  Page ! 17

Day 9 - Karumba      Day 11 – Sweers Island

!

!
Day 10 – Burketown   Day 12 – Adel’s Grove

                     !

                     !
Sydney Flyer                                           Page ! 18

Day 13 – Birdsville       Day 15 – Cunnamulla to Bankstown

!                         !

!                         !
Day 14 – Cameron Corner

!

!
Sydney Flyer                                                                                   Page ! 19

                          The Flying Club Spirit
       Mike Allsop

  I have recently returned from the Club Flyaway        Flyaways have been a Club feature since its
event to Cape York in the company of 20 or so         beginnings in the 1970's. There is no part of the
other members, friends and family. It struck me       country that has not been traversed by a Club
that this was part of the true essence of a flying    flyaway at some point, and all have undergone
club — sharing common experiences through a           the same level of ‘professional’ organisation by
love of aviation and learning a lot on the way.       volunteers.
Such a trip could only have been done by air and        Ditto for single day fly outs. These are a great
GA air at that.                                       way to extend the enjoyment of your PPL beyond
  The organisation of the trip was handled            local flying with friends and are also a great
expertly by an experienced flyer — Chris Muller.      confidence builder. These are all organised by
Chris has travelled extensively as a private pilot    volunteers with the interests of the private pilot
and learned to spot those ideal locations to travel   in mind.
to, along with accommodation and ground                 Competitions have also been a feature of Club
activities to suit. Chris is a volunteer and his      life since its beginnings. These are designed to be
efforts have contributed immensely to the value        fun events providing an opportunity to practise
of Club membership for those who take part.           various manoeuvres which you may have become
Details such as suggested routing, stopovers,         rusty in, but which nevertheless are very
fuel, ground transfers, accommodation                 important to have in your kitbag for an occasion
availability and even useful contacts for             they might be required. Again, these provide a
maintenance if ever required were all worked out      great confidence builder for pilots, and a great
in advance and shared with participants. Chris        opportunity to share with others. Bill Dawes has
understands the interests of members who enjoy        been the organiser of our competitions over the
extended cross country flying and helps               past few years, and he has built up a strong cadre
encourage those with less experience to build up      of participants, Member Air Judges and
their confidence in decision making for the           instructors following well planned sequences for
various legs ahead so that they may enjoy the         scoring. This is all volunteer effort, and builds on
attractions of the destination as well.               years of experience.
Sydney Flyer                                           Page ! 20

  There is a distinct difference between
organisations which focus solely on training and
those which provide extended activities such as
those above. A relationship with a flying school
is simply transactional. A customer pays money
to receive training and gain a qualification, either
for private or commercial purposes, and moves
on. This is perfectly OK if that is all the customer
wants. A Club on the other hand extends that
relationship to personal enjoyment in the
company of others and the extension of
experience in the company of others beyond ‘the
transaction’. This may involve members with
their own aircraft or those choosing to rent an
affordable alternative. It particularly thrives on
volunteer effort, since most Clubs do not have
staff with the time or experience to undertake
these activities. A strong relationship is however
built with staff who go out of their way to offer
support for these activities, and who make
appropriate resources available.
  A club which fails to do this dies as a club and
reverts to being a transactions provider, if it
survives at all through such a hit to its
reputation. Unfortunately GA is littered with
examples where the mix of emphasis between
training and private operations has been let to
slide to the detriment of one side or the other.
Both are essential for the future of GA to my
mind.
  SFC has a proud history in the full spectrum of
Club activity and should be encouraged to build
on this in the interests of its members and as
part of wider advocacy for GA as a whole. Club
spirit demands nothing less.
  Many thanks to all of you who make it such a
place and long may it continue.

By Mike Allsop
Sydney Flyer                                                                              Page ! 21

  My Only Emergency
  in 25 Years of
  Flying

     Mack Gridley

  In 2005, after holding my PPL for about 11       This is the type flight that I am doing on this
years with around 500 hours in my logbook, I      particular occasion in a lovely Cessna 172 JGV
often enjoyed my flying passion by treating       with a good mate passenger and his nine year old
myself and a few friends to scenic joy flights.   son, when I experience what follows.
Victor One was always popular, along with                         –––––––––––––––––
Bankstown (BK) to Mittagong, then, winds
permitting, a flight down “into" Lake               The weather is perfect and the flight north at
Burragarang, Warragamba Dam and back to BK        1,500 – 2,500 feet is spectacular as usual, over
via 2RN.                                          the magnificent Hawkesbury system with all its
                                                  bays and arms, Lion Island and Brisbane Waters.
  My favourite scenic flight of all however, is
probably BK direct to Warnervale (YWVA) or
Cessnock, then to Norah Head and 500 feet
coastal all the way back, sometimes including a
Harbour Bridge scenic, before returning to BK.

                                                                   Scotland Island
                                                   The Warnervale landing is uneventful, and we
                                                  each enjoy a cup of coffee and a few $100 packets
                                                  of Smith's chips.
  Some;mes including a Harbour Bridge scenic        Before take off for Norah Head, I visually check
       before returning to Bankstown              the fuel and oil as required. About five minutes
                                                  into the flight over Tuggerah Lakes, I notice a
Sydney Flyer                                                                                   Page ! 22

thin horizontal strip of oil about a centimetre      me towards a maintenance hangar. I hop out a
above the bottom of the glareshield. Within the      little shaken. I become more shaken when I look
next few seconds, Temps and Pressures OK and         at the plane. Oil is everywhere down and under
everything else normal except … the oil is slowly    the fuselage. With too many helpers, I remove
moving up the glareshield, forming a slight          the cowling. I urgently want to know how much
hump in the middle. I immediately ease the           oil remains in the engine. I am amazed the
throttle to nurse the engine, radio YWVA to          engine hadn’t started to seize. The engine is
advise I’m on my way back with a possible            swamped with oil. I go for the dip stick. No dip
imminent entire failure. I then brief my             stick!
passengers for a possible forced landing.              It is immediately evident that the oil has
                                                     sloshed out of the dip stick tube. I can feel what
                                                     everyone is thinking: “The dunce forgot to
                                                     replace the dip stick". I am sure I had replaced it.
                                                     In order to avoid such an omission I was trained
                                                     to leave the dip stick east west on top of the
                                                     cowling in full view of the pilot in the cockpit,
                                                     when checking the oil.
                                                      I feel terrible, but am sure I had replaced it as I
                                                     had done hundreds, perhaps thousands of times
                                                     before. At least the engine has only suffered
             Temps and Pressures OK
                                                     minimal damage, if any at all. WRONG!
  I am eight or nine miles from the field, and       “What's this?” someone yells. I look and
hope the engine will get me within gliding range     immediately recognise the Cessna/Lycoming type
before I may have to shut it down. The minutes       oil dip stick cap. It has separated from the stick
seem like hours as I dawdle back at 1,800 RPM,       and somehow wedged itself down between the
and about 80 knots. I have to maintain altitude      cylinders and stayed there.
of course, but want to put the least amount of
                                                       This is great news for me, but bad news for the
strain on the engine. The oil continues to cover
                                                     engine. The stick itself had nowhere to go but
the glareshield and I have no idea why.
                                                     down into the engine. We are so lucky it didn't
  At last the strip is in sight but I am only at     tangle up with the valves or cam shafts, and that
1,000 ft. While YWVA is an ‘un-towered’ CTAF,        there was enough oil to get us safely back to the
it does monitor all calls. The CFI has cleared all   strip. Anyway, I am off the hook, but the engine
other planes away for my arrival and after           is taken away in a truck for a $25,000 complete
another minute with the oil now starting to          reconditioning. In subsequent flights to YWVA,
cover the side windows (even though the temps        it seems months before it has been put back
and pressures remain normal), I feel I could         together and returned to BK.
safely glide in joining base for a very short and
                                                       Well, that’s my story. I later learned that
“curved" final. I slowly shut the engine down,
                                                     globally, this fault had been recorded only twice
and take the normal precautions for a forced
                                                     before with C172 Lycoming engines. On both
landing.
                                                     occasions it was caused by a faulty stick/cap
  As one so often reads in the crash comics, my      connection, not a design fault. My own CFI
landing is one of my best. The word has got          praised my actions which was nice, saying that I
around and it seems that dozens of helpers           may have saved a few lives, and a Skyhawk hull
suddenly have appeared from all directions. I        of course.
assess that there is no fire risk, so after
                                                     By Mack Gridley
offloading my passengers, allow everyone to push
Sydney Flyer                                                                                       Page ! 23

                                                           Deep Stall 2
                                                           Duck's Disease

       Bill Cooper

                                          The majes;c XB-70 Valkyrie

‘Looking outside, at the planet, is the best bit of SA     There is another way to eliminate the problem
(Situational Awareness) that you can use’.               altogether, via:
                                        US Astronaut       • Computer-controlled, powered flying surfaces
                                                           and thrust deflection, so that the aircraft can be
  So far, the deep stall has been described as
                                                           routinely manoeuvred in and out of deep stall
when the aircraft AoA (angle of attack) exceeds
                                                           angles, e.g., jet fighters: Su27, F-35, etc..
30°, it can enter a stable deep stall from which
the pilot may be unable to pitch the aircraft
down toward an unstalled condition. Aircraft
design plays a part, with T-tailed designs and
canards prone to be unrecoverable from a stable
deep stall, due inability either of the stalled
wing’s wake to attach itself to the tail surfaces,
or the foreplane remaining unstalled.
Conventional low-tailplane designs can also
experience deep stall AoAs but should be
recoverable, unless too late/low or the recovery
is otherwise mishandled.
 Successful recovery techniques, height                           Lockheed Mar;n F-35 Lightning II
permitting, can range from:                                And now, a look at canards and their deep stall
  • Manoeuvring the aircraft with controls still         issues ...
  operational: Aileron; Rudder and Power, or:
                                                         The canard
  • Not letting the aircraft get anywhere near a
                                                          Canard, the French word for duck, has two
  stall in the first place, to;
                                                         English meanings:
  • Ballistic solutions such as ejection seats or
  airframe parachutes.
Sydney Flyer                                                                                        Page ! 24

  • A small wing-like projection attached to an          Vari-Eze design was being test-flown. After
  aircraft forward of the main wing to provide           several flights, the pilot stated his intention to
  extra stability or control, sometimes replacing        demonstrate the aircraft’s foolproof performance
  the tail;                                              by holding the stick back throughout the takeoff.
                                                         Observers saw the aircraft lift off runway 29C
  • An unfounded rumour or story, a hoax or
                                                         early and, just clear of the ground effect, snap-
  fabrication. Websters
                                                         roll upside down and crash on the runway, killing
                                                         the pilot, demonstrating that it wasn’t idiot-
                                                         proof (better idiots keep evolving) also
                                                         vindicating advocates of an alternative theory:
                                                         ‘Keep the shiny side up’ (aerobatics excepted).

                                                         Canard control
                                                          There are two forms:
                                                          • Fixed (Static) canard, with an AoA greater
  The history of canards contains a little of both
                                                          than the main wing behind it. The canard and
meanings. Canard foreplanes work much as the
                                                          the wing, share the lift task.
conventional (tailplane) pitch control, but by
raising and lowering the nose rather than the
tail. They have been in and out of fashion
throughout aviation history. The Wright Flyer
had a canard stabiliser, developed during the
brothers’ glider experiments. They claimed to
have been saved several times by using that form
of pitch control, though it may just have been
because the canard was in front of the pilot and
got to the crash scene first, breaking the fall, as it
were, from the Flyer’s 30 kt airspeed.
  Like many a second-class invention, the canard
                                                          • Moving (control) canard, set at neutral, 0°
seemed to be a good idea, as it was alleged to be
                                                          AoA, providing pitch control only, leaving the
stall-proof. Pitch stability relies in part on
                                                          wing to provide lift.
longitudinal dihedral, where the AoAs of the
wing and the pitch control surface have a
different incidence, the front one larger. If the
front surface is the control, then the aircraft can’t
suffer a wing stall because the canard will stall
first and keep the wing from stalling? Can it?
Foolproof? What could go wrong? ..

                                                           The fixed canard, the classic ‘stallproof ’ design,
                                                         has been a dismal failure, as the airflow
  Well, here at Bankstown Airport, many moons            interaction between the canard and the wing just
ago, a canard-equipped homebuilt of Dick Rutan           behind it is complex, with poor stability, drag
Sydney Flyer                                                                                      Page ! 25

and stall characteristics. It just doesn’t work as        Computerising powered primary controls has
expected, as in the Bankstown crash example             turned instability concerns into manoeuvre
above.                                                  advantages. The Cobra manoeuvre made popular
  As WIKI puts it: ‘A danger associated with an         by the Russian Su27 Flanker fighter (which
insufficiently-loaded canard (i.e. when the centre        doesn’t happen to have a canard, but the navy
of gravity is too far aft) is that, when approaching    Su33 version does) is an example of the
the stall, the main wing may stall first. This          incredible handling that AS (and vectored thrust)
causes the rear of the craft to drop, deepening         makes possible moving in and out of deep stall at
the stall and sometimes preventing recovery’.           will.

  The XB-70 project was cancelled, in part due to
unresolved issues with the canard/wing airflow
interaction, but mainly because the airframe was
unsuitable for the change from high to low level
(‘below the radar’) interdiction.

Artificial stability
  Artificial stability (AS) is how an unstable
aircraft can be stabilised on a desired flight path
by primary control input, using a feedback
controller. A stable aircraft corrects itself, sort of,   AS is complex and expensive but is so
but an unstable aircraft ‘stumbles’ quickly. The        integrated in recent military aircraft in that they
Wright Flyer was unstable                                                        can’t be flown without it.
yet controllable, but things      “Fortunately, we are good at When the equipment
happened slowly and                                                              works, the aircraft can be
flights were brief.              designing       devices that    do   these      flown into spectacular
Unstable, fast, agile aircraft             tasks very well. “                    parts of the manoeuvre
require a computer to                                                            envelope, slow and low at a
quickly identify, assess and                                                     huge AoA and out again.
correct flight path errors and keep doing it            Problem: at the slightest glitch or human error,
throughout the flight. Humans are not good              the ground is close and waiting... YouTube holds
feedback controllers: we react too slowly or            alarming videos of crew ejecting seconds before
wrongly, get tired and aren’t good at                   spectacular air show crashes. As with other
multitasking. Fortunately, we are good at               advanced equipment, AS is likely to appear in GA
designing devices that do these tasks very well.        civil aircraft in time, sans ejection seat!
  So, the Wright Flyer’s moving canard has now            To be continued …
been reinvented and, when combined with                   Deep Stall 3: next time, we’ll check out how
control surfaces that are computer-controlled,          pilots can mishandle recoverable deep stalls…
fly-by-wire, can provide unprecedented
manoeuvre performance, compared to earlier
aircraft. Modern military aircraft do not have to       By Bill Cooper
be stable to remain flyable as the computer
continuously adjusts the controls to maintain the
flight path as indicated by the pilot’s flight
control inputs and/or the navigation and target-
acquiring equipment.
Sydney Flyer                                                                                   Page ! 26

   X-Files
   Milestones and Dead Ends
                                                                                    Anthony Coleiro

FILE X108                                           (the same that was used on the Bell X-1) was
                                                    fitted to the aircraft, but it sat dormant in the
NORTHROP HL-10                                      aircraft until the 12th flight while the aircraft’s
  In File X102 we had a look at the Northrop M2-    flight characteristics were studied without the
F2 and 3, but as previously mentioned, Northrop     distraction of the rocket going.
built another Lifting Body, the HL-10. HL for
‘Horizontal Landing’ as opposed to the vertical
landings conducted by the then Mercury, Gemini
and Apollo capsules and 10 for the 10th shape to
be studied. The HL-10 was a high performance
lifting body, picking up where the M2-F3 left off,
to test the feasibility of wingless aircraft to
operate in space and then glide back to earth.
The HL-10 differed from the M2-F2 by having a
different upper and lower fuselage shape and a
delta plan form. The HL-10 had a flat under
surface and a rounded top known as a flatiron
shape, opposite to the M2-F2.
  The first unpowered flight by the HL-10 under
the command of Bruce Peterson (the real 6
million dollar man) took place on 22 December
1966, dropped from a Boeing B-52 from 45,000
feet; the flight took about four minutes reaching    Martin Marietta contributed to the lifting body
a speed of Mach 0.75. An XLR-11 rocket motor        program with their X-24A and X24B but the
Sydney Flyer                                                                                 Page ! 27

HL-10 was judged to have the best handling           Two flights had been envisaged, the first, the
qualities of the all the lifting bodies flown.       HL-10 would be sent back to Earth unmanned,
                                                     and if successful the second would be manned.
  The first powered flight took place on 28 May
1969. It was again carried aloft under the wing     Wernher Von Braun was right behind the idea
of a Boeing B-52                                                         but the Flight Research
mothership and dropped                                                   Director over-ruled this
                                 “The HL-10 flew 37 missions
from an altitude of 45,000                                               and killed the idea saying it
feet. The test pilot (John      during the life of the program was beyond his expertise
Manke) applied full                                                      and area of interest.
                                    and it logged the highest
throttle to the 8,000 lb                                                 The HL-10 flew 37
thrust XLR-11 rocket            altitude (90,030 ft) and fastest
                                                                         missions during the life of
motor for 66 seconds                   speed (Mach 1.86)”                the program and it logged
propelling the aircraft to a                                             the highest altitude
speed of 1,327 km/h and                           (90,030 ft) and fastest speed (Mach 1.86) of all
then reduced throttle to half power and he was    the lifting bodies from various companies flown
able to climb with the available momentum to an   before the project was terminated.
altitude of 64,500 feet. Rocket fuel was
exhausted after 106 seconds and the aircraft
glided back to the Edwards Air Force Base at a    By Anthony Coleiro
speed of 370 km/h.
                                                     Acknowledgments
                                                     The Illustrated Ency. of Aircraft, Orbis
                                                     Publication
                                                     Aircraft, August 1968, The Royal Aeronautical
                                                     Society
                                                     Air Progress
                                                     September 1969, Condé Nast Publications Inc.
                                                     http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/
  HL-10 carried aloB under the wing of a Boeing      FactsSheets/FS-010-DFRC.html
                 B-52 mothership                     http://www.answers.com/topic/northrop-m2-f2
  The profile of the approach was designed to
simulate a return-from-space corridor onto a pre-
planned approach onto the dry lakebed. A
circular approach was employed to assist in
increasing the rate of descent and a flare
commenced at 100 feet.
  Plans had been made to launch a modified
HL-10 into orbit on top of a Saturn V rocket,
mounted in the compartment where the luna
module would have been. The plan was that once
in Earth’s orbit, the HL-10 would be extracted
from the third stage of the rocket by a robotic
arm and placed next to the command module
where an astronaut would space walk out to it.
Sydney Flyer                                                                                       Page ! 28

    Instructor’s Patch
    Transform Your Flying Skills
                                                                                      Mitchell Anderson

Important update of general                               I alert you all to the fact that subpart (b) above
                                                        requires knowledge of emergency procedures.
competency requirements
                                                        How many of you can attest to the fact that you
  There has been a lot of conjecture of late
                                                        have recently read and comprehended ALL the
amongst the senior instructor staff about the
                                                        emergency procedures for the particular aircraft
requirements of general competency under CASR
                                                        you operate?
Part 61.385. Basically speaking, this paragraph
under the licensing regulations details the               If there has been significant time between
requirements for pilots to be recognised as             readings, then we at SFC highly suggest that you
“competent” in order to utilise the privileges of       familiarise yourself with these procedures.
their flight crew licence and any attached ratings        Flying as a pilot is very much a privilege, not a
such as IFR or NVFR.                                    right. It should therefore be treated with the
  The requirements are as follows:                      respect that it deserves. Please do your due
                                                        diligence and have a refresher on your overall
  (1) The holder of a pilot licence is authorised to
                                                        knowledge of systems and also your knowledge
exercise the privileges of the licence in an aircraft
                                                        of emergency procedures. Recently, the flight
only if the holder is competent in operating the
                                                        college has introduced a Standard Operating
aircraft … including in all of the following areas:
                                                        Procedure (SOP) of verbalising the engine fire on
 (a) operating the aircraft's navigation and            start, as a briefing to oneself, prior to cranking
operating systems;                                      the starter. The procedure is different for each
 (b) conducting all normal, abnormal and                aircraft type that you fly so it is paramount that
emergency flight procedures for the aircraft;           you are familiar with each method. On your next
                                                        flight with us, please see the front desk for full
  (c) applying operating limitations;                   details on the SOP prior to going flying, dual or
  (d) weight and balance requirements;                  private, it is different.
  (e) applying aircraft performance data,               IFR – a challenge and an opportunity
including take-off and landing performance data,
                                                          Enough of the heavy stuff. If you are really
for the aircraft.
                                                        looking to expand your flying skills and
Sydney Flyer                                                                                    Page ! 29

knowledge as detailed above, then the wonderful        arriving after last light. What are your chances of
world of flying by Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)       making a perfect arrival? Very slim in my
might present a challenging opportunity for            opinion. Did you even consider what the lowest
those that have only ever known VFR. Don’t get         safe altitude for your arrival might be?
me wrong, there are a lot of things that you can         Randell Hayman wrote a piece in the February-
do VFR that you can’t do IFR, Victor One and           March Sydney Flyer about his achievements
Harbour Scenics just to name a few. However,           under the IFR and the benefits of having the
training and flying under the IFR has a                rating. I can attest to the truth behind it and
monumental advantage over VFR. It can get you          encourage each and every one of you to upgrade
out of trouble and back to safety very quickly.        your skills and in the long run become a more
  Over the last five and a bit years of instructing,   knowledgeable pilot.
for the past three I have been pretty much               Be smart, be safe and most of all enjoy the
focused on multi-engine IFR training. Flying IFR       flying.
in a training environment has really transformed
and developed my own flying skills. I have seen a
good 50 pilots through their instrument rating         Mitchell Anderson
training. And so far so good, 100% of them have
                                                       IFR and Multi-Engine Team Leader
passed on their first attempt at a flight test.
  So how does IFR give you that extra leg up?
  Ever been flying along, trying to get up the
light aircraft lane with cloud blocking your way,
scud running out west to try to get across the
ranges or coming back from a navigation flight
from out west with a setting sun and not enough
daylight? Most of us can identify with one or
more of these circumstances. I personally have
witnessed all of these as an instructor.
  An instrument rating solves all those problems.
Is cloud getting low? Then climb through it. Is
the sun close to setting? Then continue on in the
night. Why risk pushing the boundaries not only
of your own ability, but also of safety and of the
law.
  The one circumstance where I have seen the
most spacial disorientation out of any sequence
is a descending turn at night in the circuit —
primarily from downwind to base or base to final.
For their first attempt, most people end up with
an excessive rate of descent while blissfully
unaware that they are banked at 45 or sometimes
60 degrees.
 Imagine you are pushing yourself to arrive
ahead of last light coming home from holidays
with your family on board, but have never done
any formal night or IFR training and end up
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