T H E G U I L D O F A I R P I L O T S A N D A I R N AV I G AT O R S

O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9 N o . 1 7 7

PUBLISHED BY:The Guild of Air Pilots and AirNavigators, Cobham House, 9 WarwickCourt, Gray’s Inn, London WC1R 5DJ.

EDITOR:Group Captain T Eeles BA FRAeSEMAIL: teeleseditor@hotmail.co.uk

FUNCTION PHOTOGRAPHY: Gerald Sharp Photography

View images and order prints on-line.TELEPHONE: 020 8599 5070

EMAIL: info@sharpphoto.co.ukWEBSITE: www.sharpphoto.co.uk

PRINTED BY:Printed Solutions Ltd 01494 478870

Except where specifically stated, none of the materialin this issue is to be taken as expressing the opinionof the Court of the Guild.

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS:The copy deadline for the December 2009edition of Guild News is 1 November2009 and should be sent to: The Editor,Guild News, Cobham House, 9 WarwickCourt, Gray’s Inn, London WC1R 5DJ.

TELEPHONE: 020 7404 4032 FAX NO: 020 7404 4035

EMAIL: gapan@gapan.orgWEBSITE: www.gapan.org

Guild DiaryOCTOBER 20098 Aptitude Assessment RAF Cranwell13 3rd Education and Training Committee Cobham House15 6th General Purposes and Finance Committee Cobham House29 Trophies and Awards Banquet Guildhall31 Flyer Show Sofitel, Heathrow

NOVEMBER 20093 4th Technical and Air Safety Committee Cobham House3 Benevolent Fund Board of Management Cobham House12 7th General Purposes and Finance Committee Cobham House12 4th Court Meeting Cutlers' Hall12 Scholarships Presentation Cutlers' Hall13 Silent Change Guildhall14 Lord Mayor's Show16 Lord Mayor's Banquet Guildhall18 St Cecilia's Festival St Paul's Cathedral

DECEMBER 20091 5th Education and Training Committee Cobham House3 Aptitude Assessment RAF Cranwell 11 8th General Purposes and Finance Committee Cobham House11 New Member’s Briefing Cobham House11 Guild Carol Service St Michael’s Cornhill11 Christmas Supper The Counting House 18 Guild Closes

JANUARY 20105 Guild Opens12 5th Technical and Air Safety Committee Cobham House13 Trophies and Awards Committee Cobham House20 Benevolent Fund Board of Management RAF Club21 9th General Purposes and Finance Committee Cobham House21 5th Court Meeting Cutlers' Hall21 Court Election Dinner Cutlers’ Hall

Guild Visits Programme7 October Blades, Sywell

27 October Naval Strike Wing, RAF Cottesmore

26 January Magic Circle, London

The Reach for the Islands Flying Scholarships for the Disabled (FSD) team atRonaldsway, Isle of Man. Back row, left to right: Farzin Nasari (representingone of the Sponsors, the Peter Cruddas Foundation); Steve Hopwood (FSDScholar, 2008); Caroline Begg (GAPAN funded scholar, 2008); AssistantDiana Green (FSD Trustee, Project manager for the flight); Andy Lewis (FSDScholar, 2006); Emma Suddaby (FSD Scholar, 2006). Front row, left to right:Robert Lough (Aztec pilot); Alan Rosser (test pilot, Marshalls BusinessAviation, Cambridge); Edwin Brenninkmeyer (Lead pilot, Cessna 210);Timothy Nathan (Aztec pilot and GAPAN member); Dierk Reuter (Cessnapilot). Photo courtesy Stuart Cook, office@prominent.tv

THE GUILD OF AIR PILOTS AND AIR NAVIGATORS

PATRON:His Royal Highness The Prince Philip

Duke of Edinburgh KG KT

GRAND MASTER:His Royal Highness The Prince Andrew

Duke of York KG KCVO

MASTER:Rear Admiral

C H D Cooke-PriestCB CVO FRAeS

CLERK: Paul J Tacon BA FCIS

The Guild, founded in 1929, is a LiveryCompany of the City of London.

(Letters Patent 1956)

2

In this edition of Guild News

3

Page 4 News Round Up

Page 5 The Master Writes

Page 6 Clerk’s Column and Gazette

Page 7 Trophies and Awards

Page 8 Guild Garden Party

Page 9 Profile, Captain Jock Lowe

Page 12 Breaking the Henshaw Record

Page 15 Reach for the Islands

Page 18 Abbotsford Airshow

Page 19 The Sea and Sky

Page 20 Some reasons why the Guildis so necessary to pilots

Page 21 Can’t Walk, Can Fly

Page 23 The Future Flight Deck

Page 24 Bleriot Centenary

Page 25 Keeping Skills Alive for theNext Generation

Page 26 Getting the Pig On The Dance Floor

4

GUILD SUNDAY. A number of senior Guildmembers attended Guild Sunday at StMichael's, Cornhill, on 26th July. They areshown in the accompanying photograph;from the left, Warden Tudor Owen, IPM RickPeacock-Edwards, the Master, Past MasterChris Hodgkinson, Liveryman NormanHutchings, Seb Pooley, Laurence Nicolas,Mrs Tina Peacock-Edwards, the Master'sLady, Maria Evans, Mrs Alison Hodgkinson,Mrs Iris Hutchings and Mrs Emma Pooley.

CITY LIVERY YACHT CLUB EAST COASTREGATTA. Past Master Grayburn and hiscrew of Past Masters Hodgkinson andMauleverer, and spouses, won the 2009 CityLivery Yacht Club East Coast Regatta held atBurnham on Crouch on 4th July. This is thesecond time running that they have won thisevent. The photos show their winning yacht,Ocean Spirit II, at the beginning of the racebefore the windincreased, and thevictorious crewholding theirtrophy in front of aportrait of theGuild's Patron.

GUILD OF AVIATIONARTISTS. The Master,Rear Admiral ColinCooke-Priest, openedthe Guild of AviationArtist's summer ex-hibition on Monday20th July. Theexhibition is titled'Aviation Paintings ofthe year 2009'. Thephotos show the LordMayor of Westminster,Councilor DuncanSandys, the Master'sLady, the Master and

Michael Turner, President of the Guild ofAviation Artists, at the opening ceremony,and Past Master Duncan Simpson making apresentation to Michael Turner. Some of thewonderful paintings can be seen in thebackground.

FLY2HELP DINNER, HOUSE OFCOMMONS, 25 NOV. The IPM, AirCommodore Rick Peacock-Edwards, hasasked that Guild members be made aware ofa Charity Gala Dinner to be held in the Houseof Commons on Wednesday 25th November,hosted by 'fly2help'. 'fly 2help' is a charitythat aims to lift people's horizons via themedium of flight, its core focus beingdisadvantaged youngsters. It is committed tosupporting anyone who could benefit,typically the terminally ill, chronically sickand bereaved, those who have sufferedextreme neglect and abuse, and those whoface exclusion from society as a result ofmental ill-health, sickness, disability, injuryor poverty. Youngsters and theirfamilies/carers are given an opportunity tovisit 'fly2help' at Kemble Airport where theyreceive their own bespoke event day,including an exhilarating flight. The theme ofthe Dinner will be 'Celebrating the Spitfire'sOperational Debut' and the principal GuestSpeaker will be Captain Eric Brown CBE DSCAFC FRAeS RN. An individual ticket will cost£150 and a full table of 10 receives a 10%discount at £1350. For tickets please contact'fly2help' on 01285 770821, emailinfo@fly2help.org.

GUILD LADIESVISIT THEROYAL MEWS.

Sue Cooke-Priestwrites: 'Undeterredby the monsoonconditions whilstembarking in taxis,

39 ladies joined me on the 24th July for lunchat the RAF Club followed by a private tour ofthe Royal Mews. We were shown the Statecoaches, carriages and amazing harnessesand uniforms used for State occasions. The'Piece de Resistance' had to be the GoldenState Coach, a truly remarkable example ofthe art of coach building. The onlydisappointment was that the magnificenthorses, that I know a number of the ladieshad looked forward to seeing, had left fortheir summer break in green pastures thatmorning. Despite this, it was a fascinatingvisit.' j

BBMF DINNER. Assistant Dorothy Pooley writes: ' The dinner at Woodhall Spa held on 3rdJuly was an amazing event. Organised by the BBMF to raise funds for a permanent memorialto the crews of Bomber Command, it was held at the Petwood House Hotel which was oncean RAF Officer's Mess. Guests were greeted to a marvellous flypast by the BBMF Lancasterwhilst enjoying their pre-prandial champagne and then dined in style on delectable foodprepared by four London chefs who had travelled up to the hotel to cook the food and workedfor nothing to increase the fund-raising potential of the dinner.

I was fortunate enough to join the IPM and the Faulkners at their table and other Guildmembers I saw there include the Vachers and the Master Elect. After dinner, we wereentertained by a talk from Tony Iverson about being a 'Bomber Boy' and then David Shepherdthe artist. Earlier in the evening a couple of his drawings had been auctioned and earlier inthe day the IPM and I had visited the display of David's paintings, held in the BBMF hangarat Coningsby, also to raise funds for the same good cause.

All in all from the raffle, auction, display and the dinner, £50,000 have been raised towardsthe target sum of £2m. It was such a splendid evening that I was surprised not to see moreGuild members there!

5

The Master writes …COLIN COOKE-PRIEST

Penning this message on one of

August's hottest days, it is a salutary

thought that by the time it reaches

your in-boxes my Master's year will be more

than half done! The year, like the proverbial

'thousand ages' is, indeed 'like an evening

gone'. So what's to report?

Well firstly, you will all by now have had a

chance to study our Strategic Review. As I

said in my last message many of the issues

raised are already being firmly addressed.

Others will inevitably take longer. However

your executive, and I stress your executive,

cannot work in a vacuum. A dedicated team,

full time, part time, honorary and just plain

interested strive to deliver what is best for

the Guild and all that it stands for. But we

cannot always get it right. Feedback, formal

or informal, would be hugely welcome.

One area in which I was particularly keen to

see progress is, right now, in front of you,

The Guild News. Under her stewardship

Linda Jones progressed our House Magazine

to an entirely new level, wherein it is now

both very widely read, greatly admired and

even envied! A hard act to follow. However

success generates opportunity and a number

of us had come to the conclusion that, given

such widespread distribution and readership,

we were now missing a trick both in terms of

coverage of our overseas Regions and of what

one might describe as more detailed

professional issues. Although he will almost

certainly cavil at letting me say it, I believe

that our new Editor, Tom Eeles, has met the

challenge admirably. I very much hope that

our overseas members will enjoy the greater

coverage of their parts of the world and that

those of you still actively engaged in the

profession will be stimulated by the

increased technical content. However, never

forget that the luckless editor can only be as

good as the material with which he is

provided, so as well as letting us have

feedback on your views of your Guild News,

don't forget your own contributions!

In this mid-tour message I intend to stick

with the Regions, our newest Region in

particular. Having just returned from the

inaugural formal Master's visit to Canada I

can only say that I was immensely impressed

by what has been achieved by a very small

number of enthusiastic and dedicated people

on less than a shoestring. Our other overseas

Regions having been set up many years ago,

it is easy to forget that they too once had to

wrestle with the 'what's in it for me'

syndrome, as they struggled to build up a

basic core membership. They too had to

massage our constitution and our traditions,

firmly rooted in the City of London, into a

language and shape acceptable both to their

national identities and the City heritage. So

what can we do to help? I urge you all, who

have experienced the international reach of

the Guild, and who have enjoyed the

professional and social benefits of our

worldwide membership, to miss no chance,

should the opportunity occur, to spread the

word to our Canadian colleagues.

Regretably I have to finish on a sad note.

Those of you who knew him will by now be

aware of the passing of Jack Smith. It might

seem invidious to single out one individual

since nothing is so certain as that we all have

to take up a final appointment, but the

contribution of this giant of a man, both to

the Hong Kong Region and to the Guild as a

whole merits special mention.

Jack Smith started his flying career serving

with the Fleet Air Arm for eight years, before

joining, first British Eagle and then in 1968,

Cathay Pacific. He joined the Guild in 1979

and became a Liveryman in 1988. He was

one of the founding members of the Hong

Kong region in 1982 and subsequently

became its third Chairman, serving for two

years between 1989-91. He also filled the

posts of Secretary, Treasurer and

Administrator, this latter role only given up

very grudgingly due to ill health earlier this

year. He was awarded Master Air Pilot

Certificate no. 741 in March 1998 and the

Guild Award of Merit for 2001.

For many Jack was the visible face of the

Hong Kong region. He came to London four

times a year to coincide with all the major

Guild events and would invariably treat the

office team to a RUM - a 'Regional Update

Meeting' to the uninitiated! - at the Cittie of

Yorke. If Helen was in town at the same time

she would join them to ensure good order.

Two years ago the then Chairman of the

Region, Captain Peter Robinson provided a

report covering the 25th anniversary of the

founding of the Region for Guild News. He

wrote as follows:

'In terms of length of service to the Region,

nobody comes close to Jack's contribution.

He was one of the founding members, has

served as Secretary, Treasurer, more than

once, and very notably has been the Region's

Administrator for the past 14 years. Jack's

special contribution was recognised in 2001

when he received the Guild's Award of Merit

for services to the Guild. He maintains his

active interest in the Guild and in the region,

despite having 'retired' over a decade ago.

Those of us who have recently had the

honour of serving as the Region's Chairman

find it hard to imagine how we could

possibly do the job without Jack's guidance

and sagely advice.' That says it all.

Jack finally lost his long, hard battle on the

18th August, surrounded by his family. The

Guild has lost a true friend and our thoughts

are with Helen, his family and the Region

that he so vigorously championed. jThe General Aviation

Safety Council (GASCo)The current GASCo CE is retiring

shortly at his own request and theBoard wishes to appoint a successor.

Candidates for the appointment shouldhave a wide general aviation

background, including both practicaland administrative responsibilities in anexecutive appointment. Experience as aprofessional and/or recreational pilotwould be a considerable advantage.

The salary offered will be circa £40,000.A detailed Job Specification is posted on

the GASCo website atwww.GASCo.org.uk.

An initial application is required byemail only, and must include a

comprehensive CV highlighting relevantactivities. It should be submitted by

1st November 2009 to:

applications@gen-av-safety.demon.co.uk

6

BRIEFING FOR COURT ASSISTANTCANDIDATES

As was mentioned in the August edition ofGuild News, there will be a Briefing at theGuild office for all those who may wish tostand for election as an Assistant to theCourt in the forthcoming elections. TheCandidacy Papers are contained in thisedition of Guild News and the ElectionBallot papers will be in the Decemberedition.

Any Liveryman is eligible to stand forelection and may submit his candidacywithout attending the Briefing. It is,however, recommended that anybodywishing to stand should try to attend theBriefing in order to confirm whether therole of Assistant will be what you expect -and to understand what will be expectedof you in that role.

The Briefing will take place at 16.00 on Fri23 October. Anybody wishing to attend isasked to confirm by email to the Guildoffice.

JACK SMITH

Sadly, Guild Court members heard lastmonth of the death of Capt Jack Smith.Jack was a Liveryman and Past Chairmanof the Guild in Hong Kong, although wasmore well known in his role as theAdministrator for the HK Region. In thisrole, Jack was the embodiment of theGuild in HK. He also did a lot of charitablework for handicapped children throughthe charity 'The Sunnyside Club'. Furtherdetail about Jack and his hugecontribution to the Guild is contained inthe Master's Message and also on the HKPage of the website where there is a tributepage to him.

Jack's funeral was held in Hong Kong,however, it is the wish of many Guildmembers and of his wife, Helen, that aMemorial Service to Jack will take place inUK for those who were unable to attendhis service in HK.

The Memorial Service will be held at 14.30on Wednesday 28 October at St Michael's,Cornhill. Those wishing to attend areasked to notify (by email) the Guild officein order that we may have an approximatenumber of anticipated attendance. j

Clerk’s columnPAUL TACONLearned Clerk

ADMISSIONSAs Upper FreemanSquadron Leader Keven AshleyGAMBOLD (OS)Justyn Glen-Davis GORMANMawgan David GRACE (HK)Captain Peter Anthony HOLSTEIN(AUS)Captain Jeremy Victor MORGANRobert Clive RICKWOODCaptain Laurie James SHAW (HK)Eeva Kristiina TERVOCaptain David George WHITE (OS)Captain Robert Gwyn LewisWILLIAMSCaptain David COLES (CAN)Wing Commander IanMACPHERSON (NZ)

As FreemanChristine Susan MILNERRichard Charles PIPERDavid Edmond STOKESChristopher Paul TAYLORDr Declan Martin TIERNAN

As Honorary FreemanLady Cobham

As AssociateKurt James KRANEN (AUS)Linda Mary FAULKNER

ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE COURT10 September 2009

REGRADETo LiveryChristopher James ColvinHUTCHINSONEdward Keith Brian WARBURTONHumphrey John WALTERSGraham Anthony FORBES (HK)

DECEASEDGeoffrey Charles KIRRAGERalph Lewis MESSENTCaptain Jack Gordon Leslie SMITH(HK)Christopher William WOOD

RESIGNATIONSBruce Robert ALABASTER (NZ)Brian Charles GILKISON (NZ)Mark HAMWEEKeith Roger MILLERPatrick Grant WILLSDenis William WOOLLEY

GazetteA P P ROV E D BY T H E C O U RT O N

10 t h S E P T E M B E R 20 0 9

Report of the Education and TrainingCommittee meetingheld on Tuesday 14th July 2009DOROTHY POOLEY, CHAIRMAN

Mike Smethers from the CAA, who hasresponsibility for EASA matters within theCAA, gave a briefing to members of boththe E&TC and the TASC. He explained thatwe are currently in a transitional periodwhich could last until 2015. Despite theAgency's intentions to implement licensingregulations by 2012, there is likely to be adelay on this and on the aerodromes rules.The briefing clarified the position that it isEASA who prepare rules, but NationalAviation Authorities who implement them,leaving EASA with a further role ofstandardising that implementation. EASAhas received a lot of bad press recently andit is clear that the EC has underestimatedthe amount of work that would be requiredto convert the JAA rules into EU rules.

Following the briefing which took uparound 50% of the time available for themeeting, short reports were received fromthe various sub-committees andrepresentative bodies. Concern was

expressed by various members of thecommittee regarding the costs ofundertaking the Morrisby tests that arecurrently borne by the prospectivecandidates short-listed for the SomersScholarship. The general feeling of themeeting was that it would be highlydesirable for the Guild to offset some ofthat cost (say £60 per candidate), ascandidates will have already had to paytravel and accommodation costs and bearthe cost of obtaining a Class 1 medical(around £400) in order to attend this phaseof the selection process.

The three position papers previouslypresented to the Court have been recastinto a uniform format by Harvey Crush,but still need a few small amendmentsbefore the Committee submits them infinal form to the Court. j

7

The following are the awards approved bythe Court of the Guild for 2009. Therecipients will be formally presented withtheir award at the Guild's Trophies andAwards Banquet to be held at Guildhall,London, on Thursday, 29 October.

LIFETIME CONTRIBUTION TO THEAEROSPACE INDUSTRYThe Guild Award of Honour - not awarded.Awarded to an individual who has made anoutstanding lifetime contribution to aviation.

FLIGHT TESTThe Derry & Richards Memorial MedalAwarded to a test pilot who has made anoutstanding contribution in advancing the artand science of aviation.Iain Young MBE BSc FRAeS

TRAININGThe Sir Alan Cobham Memorial AwardAwarded to the most meritorious student pilotgraduating from a college or school of civil ormilitary aviation and nominated by the Principalor Commanding Officer. Particular considerationwill be given to the candidate's progress duringthe course, including qualities of character,leadership, involvement in sport, recreation andvoluntary service, in addition to flying andacademic achievement.Vincent Dusseau

The CFS Guild TrophyA periodic award to an individual, group ororganisation that, in the opinion of the Court ofthe Guild and with the endorsement of theCentral Flying School, has made an outstandingcontribution toward the achievement ofexcellence in the delivery of military flyingtraining or instructional standards.Hawk Synthetic Training Facility Staff, RAFValley(BAE Systems (HST) Ltd)

The Pike TrophyAwarded to an individual who has made anoutstanding contribution to the maintenance ofhigh standards of civil flying instruction andsafety, taking into account working conditionsand opportunities.Captain Richard (Dickie) Bird FRAeS

The John Landymore Trophy Awarded to theoutstanding candidate of that year for a GuildPPL Scholarship.Courtney Challis

FLIGHT OPERATIONSThe Sir Barnes Wallis MedalAwarded in recognition of an exceptional andinnovative contribution to aviation.Timothy Prince OBE FRAeS

The Grand Master's Medal - not awardedAwarded to a pilot under the age of 30 foroutstanding achievement and endeavour in anyfield of flying activity.

The Master's Commendation - awarded twiceAwarded at the discretion of the Master forcommendable achievement in any sector ofaviation.Squadron Leader Alistair (Al) Pinner MBEBSc RAF, Captain Roland (Rolie) James DSM(Oman)BA(Hons)

The Brackley Memorial TrophyAwarded to an individual, a complete aircraftcrew, or an organisation, for an act or acts ofoutstanding flying skill, which have contributedto the operational development of air transportor transport aircraft or new techniques in airtransport flying. Squadron Leader Keith Hewitt MBE RAF

The Johnston Memorial TrophyAwarded to an individual, a complete aircraftcrew, or an organisation, for an outstandingperformance of airmanship, for the operation ofairborne systems or for the development of airnavigation techniques and equipment.5 (AC) Squadron RAF

The Guild Sword of Honour - not awardedAwarded for an outstanding contribution to anysector of General Aviation (all elements of CivilAviation other than Air Transport), whether inthe air or on the ground.

SAFETY AND SURVIVALThe Sir James Martin AwardAwarded to an individual, a group, team ororganisation, which has made an outstanding,original and practical contribution leading to thesafer operation of aircraft or the survival ofaircrew or passengers.Flight Lieutenant Emily Rickards RAF

The Cumberbatch Trophy - not awardedAwarded to an individual, a team, group ororganisation for an outstanding contribution toair safety, whether by the development oftechniques contributing to safer flight, byimprovements in ground equipment andservices or by improvements in aircraft andcomponent design.

FOR OUTSTANDING COURAGE ORDEVOTION TO DUTY IN THE AIRThe Grand Master's CommendationAwarded at the discretion of the Grand Masterfor an act of valour or outstanding services inthe air. Crew of 'Blackcat 22' (RAF Chinook)

The Hugh Gordon-Burge Memorial AwardAwarded to a member or members of a crewwhose outstanding behaviour and actioncontributed to the saving of their aircraft orpassengers.Crews of 'Ultimate 21 Flight' (RAF Chinooks'Ultimate 21' and 'Ultimate 22')

The Prince Philip Helicopter Rescue AwardAwarded to an individual member of ahelicopter crew, a complete crew or the crews ofmultiple helicopters, for an act of outstandingcourage or devotion to duty in the course of landor sea search and rescue operations.Crew of 'Rescue 193' (RN Sea King, 771 NAS)

The Guild Award for Gallantry - not awardedAwarded to an individual, or crew of an aircraft,in any field of aviation for an outstanding act ofgallantry. It is intended that this should beawarded on rare occasions for any actconsidered worthy of the award as soon as thefacts of the event are clear. Awarded at thediscretion of the Master and on the advice of theTrophies and Awards Committee.

GUILD ONLYThe Guild Award of MeritAwarded for meritorious service to the Guild.Captain R Felix LVO FRAeS

REGIONAL AWARDSThe Grand Master's Australian MedalAwarded to an individual, a group ororganisation involved in any branch of aviationin the Australian Region or to Australiannationals abroad, who or which has made ameritorious contribution to any aviation activity,either by displaying technical excellence or bythe development of a procedure or operationaltechnique of an outstanding nature.School of Air Warfare RAAF

The Australian Bi-Centennial AwardAwarded as an ongoing commemoration of theAustralian Bi-centenary, to recognise anoutstanding individual contribution toAustralian aviation.Peter W Nottage

Jim Cowan Memorial Award - not awardedThe recipient will be a young pilot (no specificage limit) who is an Australian citizen or apermanent resident in Australia, holding a civilCommercial Pilot Licence or higher, or militarypilot qualification and is engaged in theprofession as a pilot in Australia or ontemporary posting overseas and has, in theopinion of the Australian Region Trophies andAwards Sub-Committee, with the endorsementof the Guild Trophies and Awards Committee,made an outstanding individual contribution toaviation or whose achievements in aviation aretruly noteworthy.

The Jean Batten Memorial AwardAwarded in memory of the late Liveryman MissJean Batten, to recognise an outstandingindividual contribution to New Zealandaviation.Squadron Leader Jim Rankin DSD MSc RNZAF

AVIATION MEDIAThe Guild of Air Pilots and Air NavigatorsAward for Aviation JournalismAwarded to an individual journalist, publicationor organisation for an outstanding contributionto the promotion or public awareness of aviationin general or of any important aspect of aviationactivity.Flight International

THE MASTER'S AWARDSThe Master's Medal - awarded twiceAwarded to any person in aviation, at any time,for an act or other achievement in aviationconsidered worthy of the Medal, as soon as thefacts of the event are clear. This is intended tobe an immediate award, made at the discretionof the Master and on the advice of the Trophiesand Awards Committee. Crew of US Airways 'Flight 1549' Charles (Chalkie) Stobbart

The Master's Special Commendation- an extra award for 2009Crew of 'CanJet Flight 918' j

TROPHIES AND AWARDS 2009

8

Guild Garden Party, Sunday 2nd AugustASSISTANT TOM EELES, PHOTOS COURTESY TOM EELES AND DICKIE DUCKETT

Despite the lack of the Met Office'smuch hyped 'Barbecue Summer',Sunday 2nd August was a classic

English summer's day at Old Warden,where the Guild held its annual GardenParty, the Shuttleworth Collection MilitaryPageant Air Display was staged and theHunter Pilots and Airfield ConstructionBranch Reunions took place. The brightsunshine and puffy cumulus cloudscruising overhead made it a perfect settingfor all these events. No fewer than 210Guild members and their guests attended,including the Master and his Lady, theImmediate Past Master, the Master Electand 2 Wardens. Some 85 cars, expertlymarshalled by members of the local AirTraining Corps Squadron who rightlydeserve a special mention, and a numberof the Guild's Flying Club light aircraftdelivered Guild members and their gueststo the event. Champagne corks popped,pilots who flew in sipped ginger beer,ladies in elegant summer dresses mingledwith gentlemen in tropical suits andpanama hats. Exotic picnics were inabundance. It was a scene reminiscent ofthe golden days of aviation in the 1930s. Anumber of Guild members who had flownHunters in their youth also visited theHunter Pilot's Reunion, where some 584Hunter pilots had gathered in one of thehangars, along with past members of theAirfield Construction Branch. Doubtlessmany lies and war stories were exchangedand it was fitting that a Hunter FGA9performed in the flying display.

We were treated to a wonderful flyingdisplay which included a wide range ofdiverse aircraft, ranging from the jets -Hunter FGA 9, Vampire T11, Gnat T1, JetProvost, - to classic piston engine lightaircraft - Chipmunk, Tiger Moth, Tutor,and Magister. The Shuttleworth's WorldWar One aircraft, SE5A, Avro 504K andBristol F2B Fighter all performed withexuberance. A particularly interestingformation was the inter-war Germancontingent of Bucker Jungmann, BuckerBestmann, Klemm 35D and Focke Wulf

FW 44 Stieglitz. An immaculate pair ofRyan PT22 Recruit trainers added aninteresting transatlantic flavour, butcourted disfavour from the Master and hisparty by providing a generous slipstreaminto the Guid's enclosure after starting ! AWestland Wasp helicopter buzzed angrilyalong the crowd line, immediatelyattracting the Master's attention. Abeautifully restored Avro Anson, in civillivery, brought back memories to thewriter of flights hitched (illegally) as aschoolboy when my parents were based atRAF Cranwell. The piston engine 'heavymetal' brigade, Gloster Gladiator, HawkerHind, Westland Lysander, Spitfire and 2Hurricanes were all displayed with greatskill and elan.

Sadly, the wind obstinately refused toreduce to a level that would havepermitted the 'Edwardians' - the aircraftfrom the dawn of aviation - Bristol Boxkite,Avro Triplane, Blackburn Monoplane,Deperdussin, and Bleriot - to fly untilabout 7 pm. By this time many of thosewho had flown in or who had traveledsome distance by car had departed forhome. But never mind. We were alsotreated to a 'drive-by' of the ShuttleworthCollection of eclectic classic, vintage andveteran vehicles, suitably manned byindividuals in appropriate period costume,persued energetically by a perspiringindividual on a Victorian quadricycle.

At the end of the display visiting aircraftwere despatched to their home airfieldswith commendable efficiency and lack offuss. Arriving and departing by air at theGarden Party was without doubt the bestway to attend this event, as we watchedthe lines of cars crawling away whilst weset heading for home. All in all, awonderful day; Assistant Mike Gloverdeserves enormous thanks andcongratulations for making thearrangements. j

The Editor's party arrives by air.

The Guild's enclosure, with Guild membersenjoying their picnics.

The Drive By of veteran vehicles.

The Master Elect explains the finer points ofdisplaying an historic aircraft to the JuniorWarden.

The immaculate Avro Tutor taxis past theGuild's enclosure.

The Edwardians - Bristol Boxkiteand Avro Triplane, in action.

9

PROFILECaptain Jock LowePAST MASTERPAT MALONE

Kibblesworth was a one-streetmining village in the Durhamcoalfields where boys coming of

working age traditionally laboured in thebrickworks or went down the pit. There inthe waning years of World War Two wasborn William Dennis Lowe, son of a Co-opsales rep and a woman of coal miningstock, profoundly working class Geordieswhose idea of success was for him to stayat school beyond the age of 15.

Dennis Lowe was always set apart. He wasthe first boy at Kibblesworth Junior Mixedand Infants School to pass the eleven-plusexam for six years. At Chester-le-StreetGrammar he shone at science, andwinning a place at Birmingham Universitymade him a rarity in his circle. But thatwas just the start. We know him today asCaptain 'Jock' Lowe, the first man sinceSir Sefton Brancker in 1929 to be Presidentof the Royal Aeronautical Society andMaster of the Guild of Air Pilots and AirNavigators, Concorde Chief Pilot andindeed the world's longest-servingConcorde pilot, Director of FlightOperations for British Airways, lecturer,broadcaster and tireless cheerleader foraviation in all its forms. A flyer to thebone, he keeps a half share in a Chipmunkand a tenth share in a Bölkow Monsun atBooker.

More than any other, Jock Lowe was'Captain Concorde'. She was the reason hestayed in aviation; he flew her, he trainedon her, he managed the fleet and was amajor force in turning her from whiteelephant to golden eagle, producing in oneyear 25% of BA's profits from 5% ofturnover. It comes as a surprise, therefore,when he says he always thought her acommercial blind alley, he knew she couldnever be an overall financial success, andthat we're unlikely to see her like again -the era of the large supersonic passengertransport died with her.

“That's not to say Concorde was afailure,” Capt Lowe says. “They didn'ttake many passengers to the moon, butthe Apollo programme was no failure. We,the British and French, had gone for speedas the route to success in commercialaviation, based on the fact that all

previously successful aircraft had gonefaster. But they'd also been bigger, so thejumbo was the real commercialbreakthrough. Perhaps we tried to do toomuch, we tried to make a technicalsuccess - which undoubtedly it was by anymeasure - as well as a commercialsuccess. But look what we had! Aninternational icon, the very embodimentof national pride. We would all be poorerif we hadn't had Concorde.”

Birmingham University had one of thebest chemical engineering departments,and impressed Capt Lowe with its thrivingsocial scene. On his first day, a fellowstudent's question: 'And what's yourname, Jock?' gave him a nickname for life.He got a 2:1 and decided to go for a PhD,sponsored by the Ministry of Aviation'sRocket Propulsion Establishment.

“In the first term of my PhD there wereeight of us sharing a flat, and one eveningsome of them came in and said, 'We're abit short for the Air Squadron list, can weput your name down?' And I thought,okay - and that was it. Had I not been inthat night, my life might have gone in acompletely different direction.

“We all went to RAF Shawbury andeveryone was to have a flight in aChipmunk. It was my first time in anaeroplane, and I was sick. But I was alsointrigued and interested, and I was notsick again. I went solo fairly quickly andstarted doing aerobatics. I did about 250hours in the UAS, and got to like flyingmore and more. I won the squadronaerobatic competition, then the areacompetition, then the nationalcompetition, the Hack Trophy, at LittleRissington. It was named for the man whodesigned Hack Cough Sweets and I've stillgot the watch he gave us.”

After getting his PhD Capt Lowe wentlooking for work. “I was offered a job atMars in Slough as a production engineer,and they paid twice as much as anybodyelse,” he says. “I had a two-day interviewand they gave me a big bag of chocolatesto take away. I was taking them to agirlfriend who was a stewardess with BEA,and on the way I drove past Heathrow. Itwas dusk - there were no fences in thosedays - and I saw all the lights, red andgreen, and the aeroplanes coming andgoing, and I thought, you know, if I don'ttry flying as a career, every time I fly fromnow on I'm going to regret not trying…

I was lucky enough to be offered a placeon the BEA/BOAC sponsored trainingscheme at Oxford. So I put on my blazerand went back to school, back to firstprinciples of flying. It was all a bit

unexciting, so I was soon having secondthoughts. But on my 25th birthday, on aSaturday afternoon in 1969, I switched onthe TV and watched Concorde take off forthe first time. I thought to myself, that's it!That's what I'm going to do.

Then we went to Shannon to train on theVC10 and my first flight was with BobKnights, who'd been a Pathfinder pilot,did a lot of missions and had aeroplanesshot out from under him. He wasdetermined to get this VC10 up to 50,000feet and the flight engineer wasdetermined to stop him - the Conwaysdidn't like it, they were banging away likefury, and these two were fighting over thethrottles. And I thought, what have I gotmyself into here? Bob Knights got it up to48,500 feet and it would climb no more -but it was an interesting introduction, agood foundation for knowing theaeroplane.

“During training I went to Doha, Dubai,Lagos, all around Africa, and there weresome very knowledgeable pilots, many ofthem ex-wartime, who knew how to flyaeroplanes. I did the flight navigatorscourse, learning astro-navigation, usingthe sextant, Loran, and Consol, and afterthat I could fly to America. I used to gowestbound to Australia once a month -New York, LA, Honolulu, Fiji, Sydney,Melbourne, turn round and come backagain. What a job to have!''

In 1975, a year before Concorde was dueto come into service with BA, Capt Lowewangled a couple of flights with test pilotsJohn Cochrane and Brian Trubshaw.“They wanted some line pilots to fly it andasked Balpa,” he says. “I walked aroundthe corner of the hangar at Fairford on amisty February day, and there she was,looking absolutely gorgeous - I'd neverseen her before, and 45 minutes later Iwas in the left seat, taxiing out. My first

10

flight simulated a heavyweight 31L take-off from New York, where we bank justafter lift-off for noise abatement. Theythought well, if some dumb third pilotfrom BA can do it, anybody can.

“I managed to get on the first BA firstofficers' course which started on June 1st1976. In that legendary hot summer wewere down at Filton working very hard;I'd been right around the academic merry-go-round, but this was the most intenselearning experience I'd had. North wasstill north on the compass but everythingelse was new. The systems were allparticular to Concorde - it's still anaeroplane, with electrics and hydraulicsand air conditioning and fuel, but theywere far more complex than anythingbefore them, and all different. We trainedin the aircraft at Brize Norton - we did 40landings each in those days, then wentroute flying with a cadre of training pilotson the Bahrain run, and after about sixmonths I started to instruct the nextcourse.”

Capt Lowe designed an approach profile inorder to minimise fuel burn, alwayscritical on Concorde. “I just fiddled aboutwith flexicurves,” he says, “and by havingthe INS spots in the right place you coulddo a continuous turn onto finals with theradius of turn constantly changing as thespeed decreased. I negotiated it throughwith air traffic control at Heathrow and wewere cleared from Ockham to do our ownapproach, so we'd plug it into the INS andoff it flew. And very kindly BA gave me astaff suggestion payment of £5,000 for

that, which I was verypleased with, and so werethey because it savedabout a million quid ayear.”

Concorde lost moneyfrom the start andthere were constantdebates about whether itcould continue. “A fewmonths later therewas a reorganisation andConcorde division wasformed with the technicalboss Brian Walpole asgeneral manager and meas his number two,” CaptLowe says. “It was May of'82, I was 38 years oldand we were pitchedin at the deep end.The government hadannounced they weregoing to take away allfinancial help, which was

running at £20 million a year - theFarnborough test rig and support to RollsRoyce and BAC - and everybody thoughtthat was it. We were losing money, therewere no new routes, and it couldn't standthe loss of another £20 million.

“I got some market research done askingthe passengers if they knew what the farewas. Most of them had no idea, and manyguesses came in higher than they actuallywere. So I thought, let's charge them whatthey think they're paying. - there was afairly fixed volume, we had to get as muchas we could from them. So we just addeda few more percent to the fares every twoor three months, and the load factorsstarted to increase.

“Then we looked at New York and askedwhy we had two flights there in themorning. We'd been told there wascongestion in the evening, andthunderstorms, but that had last beenlooked at ten years before. We talked to airtraffic control, and lo and behold thereweren't any delays at five to seven o'clock,and there were five days a year when theygot thunderstorms coming through. So wemoved one of the flights from London tothe evening, and that was probably thebiggest breakthrough after the fareincreases because we now had an eveningmarket.

“In the first year the support was plannedat £17 million but it came in at £10 millionbecause everybody got the message oncosts. It was a great time because we couldsee the revenue going up, and amazingly

the load factors were going up, too. Thenwe started the charter flights. BrianCalvert, the technical manager who hadintroduced the aeroplane, had retired anddid a charter for his local pub. They allpaid £100 for a trip round the bay. So wethought, why don't we do more charter?It's seen as the rich man's toy, but if wecan make it 'the achievable dream' foreverybody, we might change people'sperceptions. Out of that, the charterblossomed. Concorde to New York andQE2 back was another breakthrough.Then we did the first round the world trip.We charged John Player £1.2 million,which was a huge mark-up because it wasa big marketing and operational risk. Buteventually some round-the-world charteroperators were getting $50,000 apassenger. There was demand almostthroughout the world, and in the end theaeroplane went to 250 destinations.Everywhere there was spin-off publicityfor BA, and it very quickly became theflagship.

“Operating profit figures came in and theyexceeded everybody's expectations by afactor of ten. Eventually they went to £50million. We saw enormous losses turninto enormous profits, we saw people whohad been against it become supporters.”

In 1986 Capt Lowe was asked to becomeGeneral Manager of Operations Control.Ops Control is a small team of about 90people, the spider in the centre of the BAweb, which runs the whole show,allocating aeroplanes to flights, fixingmaintenance time and troubleshootingproblems.

“I hadn't been in the job more than acouple of weeks, it was a Friday night andI went in at 7pm to say cheerio for theweekend. A call came in from TerminalFour to say there was a jumbo that neededan engine change, which meant an aircraftchange for that flight, it was going to betight to get it out before the curfew. Thena cabin crew refused to operate down toJohannesburg because the upper deckhadn't been blocked off as it should havebeen and they didn't have a rest area.Then we got a call from Geneva to say a757 had a vibration and probably neededan engine change, then Syria closed itsairspace - there's about 20 aeroplanesabout to go through Syrian airspace andthey've all got to be contacted and in somecases diverted. Are there crews at theplace you divert the planes to becausethey'll be out of time? Then HeathrowTower called to say the runway lights hadfailed - it's winter - and where do youwant the aircraft diverted to, Gatwick,

11

Manchester, Stansted? That last call camein at 7:25, so all this had happened in 25minutes. This small team prioritised,allocated and sorted it out, and I just satback in amazement and watched them dealwith multiple crises that would knock mostpeople off their chairs. That was myintroduction to Ops Control.

“I did that until '89 and had some greattimes - they were the best team I everworked with, the most professional, themost fun-loving.

“After that, for some reason they made mechief pilot for Concorde, DC-10 and Tristar,which effectively meant I could dodge theseniority rules and move to the left seat onConcorde. Then one day I was at home inMarlow moving a compost heap and I hada call from Colin Marshall asking if I'd beDirector of Flight Operations. That was oneof the top jobs you could hope for, so Iemployed a gardener to finish moving thecompost and went to work. Weundoubtedly had the best standards, butthere was a lot to do. It had to becomemore efficient, safety had to be improvedeven further, and we had to improvemorale. Pilots are a cynical lot - whenyou're sitting for 12 hours and you're tired,and things don't work, the ground starterdoesn't turn up, the catering's not right orthe push-back's late or people have beenupgraded incorrectly, there are lots ofthings that impact on your thoughts.

Life changed for Capt Lowe when RobertAyling took over as Chief Executive. Thetwo did not see eye to eye over manythings, including the notorious 'ethnictailfin' branding, and Capt Lowe foundhimself back as Commercial Manager forConcorde.

“I did a lot to protect Concorde's patch,and I can lay a degree of ownership to thefact that Concorde's tail was never paintedin funny colours. I kept insisting that wehad a Union Jack on it, it had to be basedon some part of our heritage. I said theyhad to be mostly white for heat dissipationpurposes, which is correct for the fuselageand the wings, but for the tail I used a bitof licence. And I absolutely insisted they allhad to be the same. It didn't endear me tothe CEO, but he didn't push to point toofar.

“But this is one of the things aboutConcorde - it wasn't just for BA, it wasn'tjust for the Concorde fleet, it wasn't evenfor aviation. It was iconic for the nation,and for us who worked with her inparticular. We felt, I felt, an extraresponsibility, that actually the wholecountry paid for this aeroplane to be built,

and people had a degree of emotionalengagement with it. It was that achievabledream, and you couldn't buy anythingbetter.

Capt Lowe had just returned from asecondment as Operations Director ofOlympic Airways when the Paris crashhappened, and later, after the aircraftreturned to service and it was decided tocease flights, he thought it would be a goodtime to retire. “Rod Eddington called me into try to find a way to keep one or twoConcordes flying for high days andholidays,” he says. But the enthusiasmhad gone from the upper echelons of theairline, they didn't have the will to make itwork. It had been losing money, they wererunning only one flight a day, load factorsweren't coming back, the thing had run outof steam. Eddington very kindly invited meon the last charter flight, so I had thefinale, if you like.

“But you know, if you'd said to me in 1976that Concorde was going to have 27 yearsand you're going to make half a billionpounds net profit, I would have taken yourhand off. It would have stopped now

anyway - a large chunk of the passengerswere American bankers, and this recessionwould have put an end to it.”

And it will not come again. “It's got thelaws of physics against it,” says Capt Lowe.“You've got noise on take-off and landing,the range, which will always be less thansubsonic, you've got emissions in theupper atmosphere which could be far moresignificant than in the troposphere, and notleast you've got cost of development andthe political problems that arise fromsupersonic overflights, be it water or land.

“There may be at some stage, when we getinto growth again, a supersonic businessjet, but major iconic engineeringprogrammes like Concorde are out ofvogue. The Americans are trying to bring itback with putting a man on the moon, butit's been done; maybe there's not theopportunity now to have national flagshipprogrammes in engineering, as mygeneration had. Perhaps we need to lookfor that elsewhere, maybe in medicine -and perhaps it should be less aboutpatriotism and nationalism, and moreabout human endeavour.” j

Several pilots planned and thenabandoned attempts, and evenmore pipe-dreamed, but the Cape

Records remained unbroken. In our modernworld in which 'health & safety'considerations increasingly restrict the spiritof adventure embodied in people like AlexHenshaw, many had come to believe therecords would stand forever.

And then, in the 70th anniversary year ofthe Cape Flights, South African pilot Charles'Chalkie' Stobbart picked up Henshaw'sgauntlet and secured a place in aviationhistory.

On Thursday evening 7 May, Chalkie andhis team waited at Cape Town International.The carefully calculated take-off time came,and went. Another three frustrating hourspassed before 2303Z when the coastal foglifted just long enough for Chalkie to becleared to take off on the first leg of hisattempt on the records.

Friday 8 May

By dawn, Namibia was behind him, thedaylight and empty skies over Angolaallowing an opportunity to relax a little ashe flew the home-built Osprey GP-4 towardsthe Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)and then on to his first fuel-stop atBrazzaville.

It was the longest leg - 9 hrs 51 mins. Tiringenough in a light aircraft as the first leg of

the outbound flight, but it would also be thelast leg of the return journey three days andvery little sleep later. Still, despiteheadwinds, he'd gained almost half an houron Henshaw's time.

Then a hitch. Brazzaville should have beena one hour stop but his delayed departurefrom Cape Town meant the airport closedwhile he was on the ground - the Presidentwas departing for South Africa to attendJacob Zuma's inauguration. More than twohours of precious time slipped away - andHenshaw pulled ahead.

Towering cumulonimbus of the InterTropical Convergence Zone lay ahead of thediminutive GP-4 as Chalkie headed forFranceville (Gabon) and then Yaoundé(Cameroon). Beneath him were immenserain forests but, if he was to have anyprospect of beating the Cape Records then,like Henshaw before him, he had to take themost direct route and ignore what lay below.

More than 11,000 people around the worldfollowed progress on the Henshaw-Challenge website which included a mapshowing Chalkie's current position as wellas Henshaw's position after the sameelapsed time. Those of us monitoringprogress were alarmed when it appearedthat Chalkie had turned back. After a verylong fifteen minutes, it was a relief to seethat he was still on course. The satellitetracking system became confused when theaircraft crossed the equator - Henshaw and

Stobbart were actually running neck andneck. The prototype tracking unit was notintended for flight, nor even for use north ofthe equator - it was being developed fortracking elephants!

After Libreville, where Henshaw made hissecond fuel stop, the weather was kind,giving Chalkie a clear run to his third fuelstop at Kano in northern Nigeria.

“The initial plan was to have two fuel stops,one in Brazzaville and one in Tamanrasset(Algeria), but all attempts to have avgasdelivered to Tamanrasset came to naught, soI settled on Brazzaville, Kano and Algiers”,says Chalkie.

After 5 hrs 51 mins at an average speed 180kts, Chalkie landed at Kano shortly before1700Z. It should have been a quick stop -avgas trucked from Lagos was waiting - butit took over two hours, and a 'forceful'telephone call to the flight clearancespecialists, before he was back in the air.

“I didn't have sufficient funds to positionground crew at all the fuel stops who could'smooth out' African bureaucracy, so everyplanned one-hour stop became two hours.That added close to six hours to the round-trip,” says Chalkie.

Night fell as he flew over the desolatelandscape, crossing the Niger, onwards intoAlgeria and the Sahara Desert.

Saturday 9 May

The leg to Algiers took him into the smallhours of Saturday morning: a lone aviatorflying at night across the vast andinhospitable Sahara in a single engineaircraft - very different from his professionallife as a South African Airways A340captain!

He'd hoped to take advantage of the fullmoon when crossing the Sahara but a FL110cloudbase meant he was continuously inand out of cloud and, to make mattersworse, an intense desert sandstorm filled thesky.

The long demanding hours of night flying inIMC made this leg particularly tiring. Thelightweight Aero Sport Power engine movedthe centre of gravity close to the aft limit.That made the aircraft extremely sensitive inpitch - and beyond the capability of the verybasic autopilot (a late addition) to handlepitch inputs when heavy with fuel, pilot andsurvival gear.

Hours spent trying unsuccessfully toprogramme the pitch channel to cope helpedto keep him awake, but the aircraftporpoised violently each time he tried. That,and the effects of two different energydrinks which disagreed with each other led,for the first time in thirty years flying, toChalkie being badly airsick.

He eventually decided to tell the EFIS that

12

BREAKING THE HENSHAW RECORDWARDEN HIS HONOUR JUDGE TUDOR OWEN

“And still, over 40 years later, I would challenge anypilot to fly any aircraft in the world with no morethan 200 horse-power to the Cape and back in lesstime than I did in XF in 1939” - ALEX HENSHAW, 1980.

Chalkie's triumphant arrival backat Cape Town, greeted by his wife.

13

no pitch servo was fitted. “That allowed meto use the roll channel as a wing-levellerwhich eased my workload”, explains Chalkie.“But, until the ferry tank was empty and theCG moved forward, the aircraft had to beflown for literally every second. Any pitchdisturbance had to be quickly correctedbefore it became exponential.”

Before dawn, Chalkie arrived in Algiers. Theexhausting leg had taken 8 hours 41 mins;average speed 173 kts. The plan was to takea quick power nap under the wing and beairborne again within thirty minutes but slowrefuelling and ground-handling resulted, yetagain, in losing more than two hours on theground.

Airborne again, he was almost immediatelyover the Mediterranean for the two hourcrossing to Spain. Auto-rough? Not for anexperienced single-engine pilot who in 1992flew his vintage Fairchild F24W fromJohannesburg to Oshkosh (Wisconsin) andback, and repeated the trip in 2003 in hishome-built RV-6 to celebrate the centenary ofaviation.

By now, Chalkie had been in the air for 26 ofthe past 33 hours. He began to mentallyprepare himself to deal with the Frenchcontrollers in the busy European skies. Wasthere something unusual about his flight?Yes, he explained. Ah la la! The French skiesimmediately opened and he was given almostdirect routings across France. Routing west ofParis, he was soon over water again - theEnglish Channel.

On this leg, the brand new Stormscopepurchased for the flight had stoppedworking, and his radio began to fail on somefrequencies, but thankfully the Canadian-built 195 hp engine continued to runfaultlessly.

Approaching the UK, his radio failed almostcompletely. Squawking 7600 andtransmitting blind that he was coming intoSouthend, Chalkie touched down at 1139Z -36 hours and 36 minutes after leaving CapeTown.

A surprisingly alert looking Chalkie emergedfrom the cramped cockpit he shared with alarge ferry tank and acknowledged our cheers. He looked as if he hadjust anded after a short cross-country

hop - not a gruellingflight from theSouthern Hemisphere.

After calling his wifeon his mobile to saythat he'd landed safely,Chalkie was welcomedand congratulated byAlex Henshaw Jnr andby IPM Rick Peacock-Edwards on behalf ofthe Guild.

He must be exhausted?“'I don't really feeltired - but my bum'snumb. It's a long timeto sit on half an inch offoam!”

Chalkie was driven off to a nearby hotel, surehe would not be able to sleep. That changedthe moment his head touched the pillow.

While he slept his UK team carefully checkedthe GP-4, changing the oil filter and sparkplugs. The comms problem was traced to aloose battery connection, but the Stormscopecould not be fixed. Nor could the sat-phonewhich had been damaged when thrownabout the cockpit during the earlierporpoising.

Body clock still ticking, he awoke momentsbefore his wake-up call exactly ten hourslater, ready to begin the long return flight toCape Town and, he hoped, a new record.

Sunday 10 May

At 0205 hrs Chalkie took off again, this timebeing routed east of Paris airspace beforeretracing the route he had taken just 18 hoursbefore.

Over southern France before dawn, henoticed curious flashes in his strobe lights;the rain on the canopy also looked strange.Ice? Not according to the temperature probe.Using his torch, he saw white flecks of iceforming on the wing, and the canopysuddenly crazed over. He immediatelydescended to 9000 feet. Then heremembered. At Southend, he'd complainedthat the fresh air vents made the unheatedaircraft too cold. The NACA ducts had beentaped over which made the cockpit morecomfortable - but also protected thetemperature sender from the freezing outside

air.

Dawn broke as he crossed theMediterranean coast and, twohours later, Chalkie toucheddown in Algiers at 0737Z. Theleg had taken 5 hrs 31 mins.ATC diversions and headwindsresulted in the slowestairspeed of his entire flight, anaverage of just 162 kts.

The inevitable paperwork and

refuelling delays kept him on the ground forjust under two hours, which meant he wasnow six hours behind schedule. However,Henshaw had spent 27 hours in Cape Townbetween outbound and inbound legs so, atthis stage, Chalkie was still fifteen hoursahead of the record.

Crossing the Sahara seemed quicker indaylight but, even at FL130 (IFR minimum),fine dust and heat haze meant hours ofinstrument flying an aircraft so sensitive thatthe stick could not be released for even acouple of seconds.

The dust and heat haze of the Sahara werereplaced by heavy cloud as he made his waytowards Kano, where he did an instrumentlet-down at 1824Z.

Ground handling was much improved afterthe debacle on the way up but the weatherahead was a cause for concern - a line ofthunderstorms stretched across the Nigeria-Cameroon border and without a workingStormscope it would be more difficult toavoid them.

His team in South Africa offered suggestions.Delaying departure until daylight was onepossibility, but that would cost ten hours.Diverting to the western coastline and flyingacross Cameroon, would avoid the notoriousequatorial thunderstorms - but again at theprice of losing precious time.

It was Chalkie who would be flying so thefinal decision had to be his. By 2015Z theclouds were beginning to part and theexperienced long-distance aviator made it: nodeviation from the planned route home.

Airborne from Kano at 2044Z, the moonlightallowed him to see developments in theclouds. Within half an hour, his prayers wereanswered - a gap in the thunderstormsthrough which he could pass with onlyminimal diversion.

Crossing the equator was an obviouspsychological boost and all continued to gowell to the next fuel-stop.

After refuelling at Brazzaville (Congo), thelast and longest leg of his journey was about

Chalkie is greeted on arrival atSouthend by the IPM, Air CommodoreRick Peacock-Edwards, and WardenHis Honour Judge Tudor Owen

Arrival at Southend in record time.

14

to begin. It had taken almost ten hours onthe way up and any major diversions now, oreven a sustained headwind, would put CapeTown out of reach.

Monday 11 May

Airborne at 0444Z, he was almostimmediately presented with an obstacle bythe DRC controllers. Having been clearedthrough as per his flight plan by onecontroller, a different voice came on theradio and demanded his reference number. Itended 08. The controller claimed it was a2008 clearance and demanded he head westto Luanda - a major diversion. Attempts atreasoning had no effect; the controllerbecame increasingly insistent, and then irate.

Chalkie finally agreed to route via Luanda -although he had no intention of doing so.“It's about the most congested and worstcontrolled airspace in Africa, so I elected tostick to my flight plan and route direct.”

All was quiet for a while after he enteredAngolan airspace. Perhaps the DRCcontroller had not spoken to the Angolancontroller again? Fingers crossed. The silencewas broken by a controller referring to an'interdiction.' Angola is a big country and forthe next four hours, as he pressed on alonghis planned route, he had visions of cannonshells suddenly cutting through his wings.“It made me a nervous boy, but avoided along detour over Luanda.”

In southern Angola, cumulous clouds werebuilding ominously and, as he penetratedthe cloud and rain, the alternator trippedleaving him in deep IMC with limited batterypower remaining for the EFIS. Resetting the

alternator would require switching thebattery master off and he did not want to risklosing the EFIS. There was an alternatepower source but, because the switch wentthrough an 'off' position, he lost the EFIS. Inthe 30 seconds before he looked again at thestandby artificial horizon, the aircraft wasalready banked thirty degrees.

Not surprisingly, the friendly voices of theATNS controllers as he entered firstNamibian and then South African airspacewere an especially welcome relief to the bynow very tired pilot.

Tail-winds gradually increased ground speedto 200 kts and by the time he crossed theSouth Africa border he was making 210 kts.Fatigue pulling him down and the excitementof the home straight boosting him, Chalkiewas tracked passing Clanwilliam in theNorthern Cape at an incredible 215 kts whichhe maintained until established on the CapeTown glideslope.

Crossing the threshold at 1420Z, he tried toround out - but the stick would not comeback. Out of sight of television crews andsupporters waiting to greet him, the GP-4flopped inelegantly onto all three wheels.The damaged and unusable sat-phone hadslipped between the stick and seat!

“Charlie Lima Charlie, welcome back toCape Town” said the controller, adding:“What do you plan to do next weekend?”

The round trip from take-off to touchdownhad taken 3 days 15 hours 17 minutes -beating Henshaw's time by 18 hours and 59minutes.

Although justifiably elated by his own

success, the magnanimous victor paid

tribute to the man who inspired him: “In

some ways my flight was easier, in others

more difficult and frustrating. The fact that I

reduced the time taken by Alex Henshaw

does nothing to reduce his astounding

achievement. I honestly believe that there

are no adjectives adequate enough to

describe what Alex Henshaw achieved.”

A small minority scoff at breaking

Henshaw's records with the assistance of

modern avionics, GPS and landing aids. Let

them scoff. It took 70 years before someone

had the essential combination of skill,

commitment, stamina and courage to rise to

Henshaw's challenge.

Others may, hopefully, now be inspired to try

to beat the new record, learning from his

experiences how time could be saved,

particularly at fuel stops. Chalkie Stobbart

has paved the way for them - and shown that

a spirit of adventure still exists amongst

today's aviators.

My Father would have been the first to congratulate Chalkie on this magnificent achievement.

To fly night, day and night for 36 hours in a most uncomfortable aircraft, rest for only 14 hours and then do the same again on the returnis a quite extraordinary feat of airmanship, and displays great courage, determination and self-discipline, to the point of completeexhaustion.

Many people said my Father's record should have been left sacrosanct. He did not believe that, otherwise he would not have issued thechallenge in his 1980 book “The Flight Of The Mew Gull,” and nor do I.

Yes conditions were totally different 70 years ago. Things have certainly changed, some for the good and some not so good.

Chalkie did not have the navigational problems and, had his autopilot worked properly, it would have made life a little easier for him. AtSouthend, Chalkie jokingly said that if the Stormscope was not fixed he was not returning to Cape Town; my Father did not have thatluxury. However, the Stormscope was not fixed but Chalkie had the courage to go anyway.

On the other side of the coin my Father could not have coped with air traffic control directing him here, there, and everywhere, so at leasthe was able to fly a direct course to each airfield other than Oran. It was bureaucracy that finally stopped him flying in 1948.

All that said, my Father did the outward journey in 39 hours 23 minutes to Chalkie's 36 hours 35 minutes, and the flying times were 30hours 28 minutes and 28 hours 38 minutes respectively. The times on the return journey were more or less the same, so the records werebeaten both in the air and on the ground despite the bureaucracy in Africa costing Chalkie 8 hours even with one less fuel-stop..

Both flights were quite extraordinary, both had difficult aircraft to fly and both had problems of one sort or another.

And do not forget that my Father was only 26 years old whereas Chalkie is 60. In this context, Chalkie returned to Cape Town after only 10hours sleep during the 14 hours turn-round, whereas my Father had two good breaks at Gao and a 27 hour stop-over at Cape Town, so Ithink Chalkie's flight, for endurance, far exceeds my Father's.

I am a little sad that at last someone has broken my Father's records which stood for over 70 years, but they have gone to a charming,unassuming, very professional pilot with courage, determination and skill.

My Father was a man of his time and Chalkie is certainly a man of his time.

Alex Henshaw

The cramped cockpit, with the overload fueltank in the right hand seat.

15

REACH FOR THE ISLANDS A dawn to dusk challengeRAISING FUNDS FOR FLYING SCHOLARSHIPS FOR THE DISABLEDASSISTANT DIANA GREENPHOTOS COURTESY STUART COOK

On June 18 2009, four intrepidpilots undertook a uniquechallenge. Inspired by the

example of renowned aviatrix LiverymanPolly Vacher, they flew their respectiveaircraft (two Cessna 210s and two Aztecs)in tight formation around all the BritishIslands in a single day.

The flight, which had to be completedwithin the Pooley's Dawn to DuskChallenge framework, had several aims: towin the competition and thereby raisefunds for and the profile of FlyingScholarships for the Disabled(FSD), toprovide a personal challenge to the fourowner pilots, and to demonstrate to thoseof us included in this ambitious flight,including four disabled FSD scholars,that new boundaries can be set withambition, determination, thorough pre-flight planning and great teamwork..

All of these objectives were met, (althoughat the time of writing we are waiting tohear the results of the Dawn to Duskcompetition). We left Jersey at 04.33 (thedefinition of dawn) and, 15 airfields and 14islands later we landed at Inverness, at21.10, that is 20 minutes before the airfieldclosed and before the official “Dusk”allowed by the Pooley's challenge.

The Team of 12:The team included the four owner pilots:

Edwin Brenninkmeyer, (Cessna 210 andlead pilot).

Dierk Reuter (Cessna 210).

Robert Lough (Aztec).

Timothy Nathan (Aztec and Freeman ofthe Guild).

4 Disabled Scholars:

Caroline Begg (sponsored by GAPAN in2008), Steve Hopwood, Andy Lewis andEmma Suddaby.

Plus 4 others:

Alan Rosser, (test pilot and formationtrainer, Marshall's Aerospace).

Stuart Cook, professional photographerwho recorded the flight for thecompetition.

Farzim Nasari, representing one of themajor sponsors.

And myself, a Trustee of FSD, responsiblefor project managing the flight.

Each aircraft carried one FSD scholar. Iwas privileged to fly with the lead pilotEdwin.

The flight itself provided additional tests ofthe excellent airmanship of the ownerpilots not least the deteriorating weather aswe headed for the Scottish islands.

It also provided an opportunity for furtherpersonal development on the part of thefour disabled scholars. They became theundoubted stars of the flight when we weremet at almost all the airfields by the localpress and broadcasting media, (even beinginterviewed at the end of an exhaustingday, at Inverness, by Radio Cornwall).Three scholars also benefitted from some“hands on” experience under experttuition during the flight. And for the rest ofthe team, and all those we met on route,they were the living example of the waythat FSD provides a life transformingexperience to disabled people by offeringto them the opportunity to learn to fly tosolo or licence standard.

Caroline Begg, sponsored byGAPAN in 2008, who hadhereditary spastic paraplegiadiagnosed at the age of three,grew in confidence during her 6weeks flight training in SouthAfrica where she flew to solostandard. She received her“wings” from Prince Faisal,representing the Patron of FSD,Queen Noor of Jordan at the

presentation ceremony at RIAT in July thisyear.

Andy Lewis (ex Parachute regiment) whohad a leg amputated following an accidentsaid :

“After a gruelling selection at Cranwell, Ispent two months at GoodwoodAerodrome and gained my NPPL with norestrictions. This is where my life changedand I knew that with the right attitude andcommitment and self confidence I couldachieve anything now”...

Pre-flight planningI joined the four owner-pilots on the coreteam in February 2009. My task was to actas overall project manager ensuring that allthe elements of planning for the flight werein place. This essentially meant ensuringcoordination of all the efforts ofteam members (carried out by weeklyconference calls), co-ordinate PR, as wellas trying to line up “celebrities” toaccompany us and sort out all the logisticsat the starting point in Jersey and thedestination at Inverness.

Approaching Tiree in the last of the good weather.

Very early morning briefing at Jersey.

16

In April, we organised a day of formationpractice at Kemble. With the ableassistance of Al Rosser, the essentialelements of the formation were agreed andpracticed: a box formation with the two210s in lead and box and the two Aztecs onthe wings. This was practiced, togetherwith an impressive “run and break”procedure for approaching each airfield.Kemble was the first of all the airfields weused to waive landing fees to help usachieve our fund-raising target.

Just how essential pre-flight planning isfor a complex flight was underlined bytwo examples. First, the weather decision.Given the dawn start, the RadissonWaterfront hotel in Jersey (one of oursponsors) wanted five days notice ofwhether we intended to use the 16 roomsI had reserved! Even the most optimisticpilot knows it is impossible to make a VFRgo-no go weather decision covering a routefrom Jersey to Shetland five days ahead!We were lucky to recruit the assistance ofSimon Keeling of the Weather School tohelp us make that decision. His forecast(pleasant in the south but barely flyable inthe north) was spot on and helped us beprepared.

The second example was fuel: aftermonths of careful planning, we discoveredtwo days before the flight that the Scillieshad no Avgas facilities. Our next plannedrefuelling stop after the Scillies wasRonaldsway but some of the aircraft wouldstruggle to get there with sufficientreserves. Mona (the intermediate stop)had no fuel. Where to get fuel at 07.30hrs?After several phone calls, Haverfordweststepped into the breach; fuel wasavailable on a self-service basis andwould we like them to open up andprovide us with a cooked English breakfastto give us some personal fuel for the longjourney?!!! It was worth doing a second

mainland landing to ensure aircraft andpeople were well fuelled for the longjourney ahead!

The RouteJersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Bembridge,Scillies, Haverfordwest, Mona,Ronaldsway (Isle of Man), Newtownards,Islay, Benbecula, Stornoway Cape Wrath,Kirkwall, Sumburgh and Inverness.

The actual flightThe day before the flight we all met up inCambridge at Marshall's where we weretreated to an excellent lunch in the newBusiness Aviation Centre. After thedistribution to the pilots of SennheiserHeadsets, Oris watches and super red Jaysflying suits (from some of our sponsors)and the first of many photocalls, we setoff in formation for Jersey. We were meton arrival by BBC radio and TV and afterendless interviews, the aircraft wererefuelled and we headed for the hotel andbed.

On 18th June, after breakfast on the run at03.15hrs and a briefing at 04.00hrs theaircraft were lined up on the Jerseyrunway in their diamond formation at04.30hrs. Jersey Airport pulled out all thestops with volunteers from Operations,AFS and ATC and theAeroclub all turningup to get us safelyaway. Taking off asthe sun rose over theisland is a sight I forone will never forget.

Guernsey was sim-ilarly helpful andpulled in a dozenvolunteers there andat Alderney. Theywere very nervousabout aircraft noise inthe middle of the night

so only allowed one aircraft to touch andgo, while the other three remained off-shore in formation. As part of planning ithad been agreed that if only one aircraftcould land, it should be the same aircraft,carrying the photographer of record.Timothy Nathan drew the short straw. Bythe time of the fifth such exercise (theothers being Bembridge, Scillies andSumburgh), the process was carried outwith excellent precision. It involvedTimothy slipping into box as box cameforward to wing, allowing him to drop outof the formation, complete the touch andgo, keeping the formation in view andthen climb away and join up with the restof the formation.

After the flight to the Scillies and thewelcome breakfast at Haverfordwest, weset off in a straight line for Mona, the onlyRAF airfield on our route. It's an oddplace; a runway and a control tower butthe welcome was warm even if the windwas cold! We were greeted by a pressphotographer and a Hawk doing circuits!

Ronaldsway and Newtownards followedwith the usual warm welcome and mediainterest. Then our next refuelling airfieldwas Islay. By this time, the storm cloudswhich became a feature of the rest of theday had begun to gather. The arrival atBenbecula was the first real weatherchallenge and was the only airfield atwhich Edwin had to call for a formationbreak. Timothy reported later that, havingvolunteered to arrive last, by the time helanded the rain was so heavy that he couldbarely see the runway edge lights.

Stornaway was seriously wet. Some of ussheltered under the Cessna wings andtried to keep our feet dry, while thescholars fearlessly did their mediainterviews in the torrential downpour!

Under Edwin's fine leadership ,theformation managed to keep relatively clearof the bad weather until we reached apoint half way between Stornoway and

Dawn departure from Jersey.

Getting some local advice on breakfast at Haverfordwest.

17

Cape Wrath. There we hit an embeddedheavy rain storm which made visualcontact impossible. The team successfullyput into practice the formation breakprocedure, (flying and communication)and assisted by Dierk's TCAS system wasable to re-assemble in the box formationby the time we reached Cape Wrath andmake track for Kirkwall. Here, theimpeccable time keeping fell apart under acombination of factors beyond our control,including press photographers, security,welcoming managers, and a commercialtransport aircraft which did an accelerate-stop on the runway! This further delayedus, as did the request to do a formation fly-by for a photo-shoot. Reaching Invernessvia Shetland before Dusk was lookingincreasingly unlikely. This led to thedecision to do a touch and go at Sumburghand Timothy once again peeled off, did thetouch and go and rejoined the formationwith grace and style.

With the minutes ticking away and theweather worsening we headed for our final

destination of Inverness. This wasprobably the most testing part of the flightas it combined low cloud and high groundat the end of a very long and demandingflight. But with Edwin's leadership and theskilled airmanship of the team, we landedat Inverness, doing perhaps the best run

and break with 20 minutes to spare beforethe Dusk deadline. Exhausted andexhilarated, and after yet another radiointerview, we headed for the hotel, foodand bed.

The fundraising challengeAs this account shows, the team achievedmost of the initial aims. Our success washeavily dependent on the help and supportwe had from a wide range of people andorganisations, at each stage of the flight.We set an ambitious target of raising£40,000 for FSD. By the end of the flightwe had raised a substantial portion of this,but were short of the target by a fewthousand pounds. The donations, largeand small, came from organisations andfrom private individuals, including theapron manager at Inverness who handedme a £20 note to add to our collectionbecause he had been inspired by thescholars! Given the current economicdifficulties, this is no mean achievement.If you would like to help us gothe final mile, please go towww.reachfortheislands.org.uk and addto the total!

In the final debrief, a few days after theflight, we agreed that part of the success ofthe challenge was that many of those whoprovided us with support did effectivelyact like and feel like members of the widerteam. All of us learned something positivefrom the flight, about leadership and goodairmanship, about recognising and usingthe multiple talents of the team and the joyof setting and achieving demandingpersonal flying challenges. As we listedthe lessons to be learned, our thoughtsinevitably turned to next year. What mightbe a different and even more demandingchallenge for 2010? j

The whole Reach for the Islandsteam at RAF Mona, Anglesey.

Refuelling at a wet Stornorway.

En route to Inverness over the wilds of Caithness.

18

Colin Cooke-Priest, Master ofGAPAN, flew to Vancouver toattend a Directors' meeting and to

take part in the opening of the 2009Abbotsford Airshow. While in Canada, heannounced that the Guild would award theMaster's Commendation to the crew of theCanJet Airlines 737-800 that was hijackedin Montego Bay on April 19th. He alsopresented illuminated scrolls to theCanadian Forces' Snowbirds designatingthem an Affiliated Unit and to theAbbotsford International Airshow on thecentennial of flight in Canada. Pressreleases were issued for these threeawards.

On Friday August 7th, Colin also met withexecutive members of the Air CanadaPilots' Association to discuss areas ofcooperation and mutual benefit.

Accompanied by John Burley, Chairman,and Air New Zealand's Captain AllanBoyce (Assistant to the Court), Colin alsovisited Coastal Pacific Aviation and touredCascade Aerospace with its founder, BarryMarsden.

On Saturday August 8th, Colin and his

wife, Sue, visited Victoria courtesy ofJamie Molloy, Vice President of HarbourAir Seaplanes. As a retired Royal NavyRear Admiral and a marine aviator ofseveral decades experience, Colin enjoysflying close to the ocean. We hope theStraits of Georgia sufficed! j

.

Abbotsford AirshowCANADA REGION

Snowbird Formation

Photo by Katsuhiko Tokunaga

Maj. Chris Bard,Commanding Officerand Team Lead,Canadian Forces'Snowbirds, acceptsAffiliated Unitcertificate from ColinCooke-Priest, Masterof the Guild.The illuminatedscroll conveys“Wishes for a longand distinguishedpartnership in thepromotion ofexcellence in aviationin Canada”.

Photo by Maj S. Thompson

19

P.C. FYNES

Floatplanes in Canada? You're alreadydreaming of majestic mountains,wilderness lakes and an old floatplane

gently bobbing at the dock. Chances are youare not thinking of a modern inter-city airline,nor imagining such a company would haveEASA certification, but Vancouver-basedHarbour Air Seaplanes is just such anoperator.

Formed as an air taxi service in 1982 by GregMcDougall with two partners and a pair ofaircraft, HAS today has the largest all-floatplane fleet in the world and flies close to300,000 passengers annually. Scheduledservices began in 1995 with flights betweenVancouver and Victoria harbours. In 2007,the company decided to test the waters inEurope by dipping a toe in the Mediterraneanand Harbour Air Malta was formed. HAMnow flies scheduled services from Valetta'sGrand Harbour to Gozo Island and regularflights to Sicily are imminent.

“We take the bush out of bush flying” notesJamie Molloy, Harbour Air's Vice President,Aviation and Corporate Safety. Independentcustomer satisfaction surveys yield resultsthat would make any airline executive'seyeballs pop. To best serve the travellingpublic, Harbour Air operates its ownreservations centre and has constructed newseaplane terminals and restaurants(Richmond's “Flying Beaver” and Victoria's“Flying Otter”) and the ancillary facilitiessuch as ramps, docks and fuel tanks. To keepthe growing fleet in pristine condition, thisyear the company doubled the size of itsmaintenance facility at VancouverInternational Airport.

For Harbour Air, its subsidiary North PacificSeaplanes (based in Prince Rupert, B.C.) andjoint venture Harbour Air Malta, thebackbone of the fleet is the de HavillandCanada floatplane. In total, 15 DHC-2Beavers and 18 DHC-3T Otters are onstrength with DHC-6 Twin Otters being leasedwhen the need arises.

Like all Beaver operators, Harbour Airremains impressed by the reliability of theairframe and Pratt & Whitney's 450 hp JuniorWasp radial engine. Over the years, HAS hasinitiated several updates, ranging from extrawindows in the six passenger cabin to a

limited STC for an improved fuel/oil shut-offlever.

Although the DHC-3 first flew with a 600 hpradial, Harbour Air's fleet has been re-engined with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT-6 34turboprops of 750 hp. To maintain centre-of-gravity limits, the lighter powerplant isinstalled in an extended nose and a ventraltail fin is added. The fleet also hasaerodynamic modifications such as re-profiled leading edges and drooped wingtipswhich, combined with the extra horsepowerand a reversing propeller, deliver super-STOLperformance. Gross weight has also increasedfrom 7,190 lbs. to 9,000 lbs. Harbour AirOtters have elegant fourteen passengerinteriors with leather seats and panoramicbubble windows. Up front, the pilot has acomfortable 'office' complete with anergonomically mounted avionics stack and aGarmin 295 GPS moving map display.

The turboprop installation has made theOtter pilot's job of taxiing and docking mucheasier as reverse thrust can be used tocounter the effects of wind and current. “Youmust remember that when an aircraft istaxiing on the water, it's really just anotherboat” says Molloy. Like all single engine

floatplanes, the DHC-3T is steered byretractable water rudders (hinged to the backof the floats) which are interconnected withthe pilot's flying rudder pedals. Since theheels of the floats are subjected to intensebuffeting on takeoff and landing, the waterrudders are only extended for taxiing anddocking.

There is an art to flying floatplanes andHarbour Air only recruits the cream.Minimum requirements are 1,500 hours totaltime with at least one-third in floatplanes.The new-hire will receive type-specifictraining, 50 hours of line indoctrination andan underwater egress course. Recurrenttraining including hood flying and 'deadstick'landings is conducted every six months. The

majority of the group has 5,000+ hoursexperience and turnover is low since workingconditions are excellent: four day workweek,home every night, and salary plus overtimepay.

Although not required for a Canadian Part703 operator, Harbour Air instituted a SafetyManagement System (SMS) in 2004 andtracked all operational incidents. A year later,following Molloy's presentations to Lloyds inLondon, HAS was rewarded with a 20%reduction in insurance premiums. “We're notrisk takers, we're risk managers” he notes.

Molloy applies technology in interesting andinnovative ways. Some of HAS' business isad hoc charter to remote lakes and inletsalong the Pacific Coast. Pilots have theopportunity to first 'fly' the trip in 3D usingGoogle Earth Pro and even the airways andcontrol zones are superimposed on the

routing in gossamer hues. Once the flightactually departs, HAS Flight Operations canmonitor the flight's position, speed andaltitude using the TracPlus Global satellitesystem.

Harbour Air was once again a trend-setterwhen in 2007 it became the first N. Americanair carrier to fully offset its greenhousegas emissions. Molloy, who studiedenvironmental science at university, can tickoff the various modes of transport betweenVancouver and Victoria on his fingers andfrom memory quote, in kilograms perpassenger, the carbon produced. The turbine-powered Otter is the cleanest option by farand the clever 'Carbon Neutral' logo onHarbour Air floatplanes publicizes thecompany's commitment to the environment.

Harbour Air's growth in British Columbia andEurope seems as inexorable as wind or tideand signifies they are no ordinary floatplaneoperator. Since floatplanes helped establishaviation in the early years, they are todaysometimes viewed as unsophisticatedaircraft. In certain applications, however,floatplanes are still the most practical form oftransportation and Harbour Air hasdemonstrated that an old idea joined withnew technology and enthusiastic staff, candeliver startling results.

The next time you feel the urge to go downagain “To the lonely sea and the sky” letHarbour Air's professionals fly you incomfort; they have a turbine Otter and a GPSto steer her by. j

The Sea and the Sky

Turbine Otter alongside in Vancouver harbour

Jamie Molloyin Harbour Air Beaverbetween flights.

20

Most pilots are pragmatists, andoften query what advantagethere could be in joining the

Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. Forthose who are members the answer isalready clear. The opportunity tocontribute to the development of aviationattracts pilots who know they can help,and those who wish to achieve a greaterunderstanding. There is no better way toassociate with one's peers. Theopportunity for self-development isoutstanding.

The Guild was founded by a small group ofpilots in Britain during the twenties, at atime when the professional interests ofthose who flew were unrecognized, andunrepresented. The Guild has a uniquestatus. A knowledge base that draws uponpilots who fly in every field of aviation,military or civil, amateur or professional.Members' experience covers the widestrange of expertise, and achievement in allthese fields.

It is worth considering why the Guild istruly unique, and fills a special place in theaviation world.

The wide range of membership from somany different piloting sources allows aperspective that does not exist elsewhere.This pool of experience allows the Guild toachieve a balance that is unhampered bythe industrial pressures felt by unions thatnegotiate conditions of service, or by otherorganizations that dilute pilots' views.

The predominant concerns of the Guild are

safety, and education. As the users of the

world's airspace, pilots are the first to

experience the effect of poor policy

making, and bad planning.

Those needing guidance on the myriad of

problems associated with the aviation

world ignore the Guild's views at their

peril.

An example of regular Guild activities canbe obtained by looking at the very widerange of subjects that are under activeexamination by the Technical Committee.Many of these are of course also the

subject of workby professionala s s o c i a t i o n s ,unions, and thei n t e r n a t i o n a lbodies, suchas ICAO, andIFALPA. Apartfrom the lattertwo, there isusually an un-fortunate national or regionalconcentration of interests.

Aviation has contributed to the shrinkingof the world, allowing trade, and socialcontact that would have been hard toimagine in the nineteenth century. Despitemodern development in the marine worldit still takes many days to cross theAtlantic. Recently airline passengers wereable to do this in a couple of hours whilstsipping champagne.

The Guild has recognized the need for atruly international membership, to receiveinput from pilots throughout the world. Atthis time there are branches in Australia,Hong Kong, New Zealand, and nowCanada, This process will continue, aspilots realize the need for a way to havetheir voices heard. The technicaldevelopments and airspace changes thatare imminent will modify much of theexisting flight environment for pilots. Thisis not confined to one area of the world.

So what makes the Guild so special? Thatit combines the knowledge of so manyexperienced, and current, pilots to give abalanced and expert input to further thedevelopment of flight, and improve safety.This is provided unmodified by political orindustrial pressures. The Guild can help toget things done or stopped.

The use of UAVs for example will affectCanadian pilots, even if they perhaps don'trecognize this now. ADS-B adoption willhave many effects. GPS updates, RussianGNSS, and the imminent Chinese andEuropean versions will create a world-wide change.

Education is a very important subject, and

reading those minutes you can detect the

current worries about complexity, and

deficiencies in training.

Yes, an annual subscription seems a

disincentive. Paying twice or even three

times for the same thing being done by

one or other organizations? But without

clearly defined reasons for joining the

Guild any monetary consideration

becomes redundant. The Guild also

provides opportunity for personal

development, through the acquisition of

knowledge at many levels.

How do we convince Canadian or

international pilots that they need the

Guild? And that the Guild needs them?

That our collective wisdom needs their

input? That they can benefit from this

process?

The Guild in the UK has a place in the

aviation spectrum earned by decades of

input, contact with industry, and

government, whereas in Canada it is

almost unknown. It took many years for

the Guild to be respected, and accepted as

it is today, and the Guild (Canada) can

lean on that respect, whilst earning it too.

That is why we will be silly to reinvent the

wheel on each subject, and will need to

keep very close liaison with the Guild in

the UK. I would hope that the regular

committees in the UK would be ready for

Canadian input on technical and training

matters, to establish a vibrant two-way

exchange.j

Some reasons why the Guildis so necessary to pilots...A CANADIAN VIEWPOINTLIVERYMAN PETER DUFFEY, CANADIAN REGION

21

Dale Elliott has just achieved anAustralian first. In May 2009, hebecame Australia’s first

paraplegic solo skydiver. And dismissimages of a wheelchair plummetingearthwards from your mind – that’sparked at the drop zone, waiting. Withoutlegs that work, Dale has engineered aningenious solution to land safely on hisrear. It’s been a long journey to this point.

At the recent Australian ParachuteFederation of Australia conference inBrisbane, conference delegates gave thedown-sitting Dale a standing ovation afterhearing his story. He started flying as ayear 11 student when he was 16; went soloin January 1992, and got his PPL about ayear later. He joined the army, attendingthe school of artillery at Manly, a ‘fantasticexperience’, and then took on anapprenticeship as a LAME in ’94-’95.

‘It was really tough then to get a job as apilot’, he says, ‘You had to have beenflying for about six to seven years’. Duringhis apprenticeship, he continued to fly,dropping skydivers at weekends, andcompleting his night-VFR and twin-engineCIR ratings. ‘It was all working out reallywell.’ Achieving this ‘first’ began six yearsago, when, Dale recounts, he was acommercial pilot looking to get his hoursup before trying for the airlines.

He recalls that time vividly: on 23December 2002, he was in an AeroCommander, flying through 8,000ft, andthrough the window in the roof, he couldsee the stars. He remembers thankingthese constellations out loud that night.‘I’m 26 years old; I’ve been married to awonderful woman for six years; and I’verealised the dream I’ve had ever since Iwas eight or nine of being a pilot. Itdoesn’t get much better than this.’

Three days later, Dale and wife Erika werespending Christmas with the family atWaikerie in South Australia’s Riverland,

where he grew up. On Boxing Day, hewent for a spin on his cousin’s Yamaha R6motorbike. ‘I’ve ridden bikes on myparents’ farm since I was eight, but Iswerved to miss a dog, and came off. Iwasn’t going fast, but I knew somethingwas wrong when I couldn’t feel my legs.’

That ‘something’ was damage to his spinalcord at T10 (the tenth of twelve thoracicvertebrae), which left him a paraplegicand reliant on a wheelchair. It’s also,according to Dale, the most common breakfollowing motorcycle accidents, becausethe thoracic and lumbar vertebrae (T10-L2) at the base of the rib cage are in aregion where the spine is most flexible,and therefore more prone to injury.(Quadriplegic injury likewise mostcommonly occurs in the region of thecervical vertebrae [C5-C7] of the neck.)

With typical determination, his stay inrehab in Adelaide was remarkably short.‘It’s all about taking some control back’,he explains, necessary tocounter the feelings ofdepression andhopelessness which formany follow spinal cordinjury.

He was soon back workingfor an aircraft chartercompany in Adelaide incharge of pilots’ rosters andschedules. ‘I was one, andnow had to manage them,’he explains ruefully. But,determined to set himselfmore challenges, Daledecided to resumeskydiving. Flying jumpplanes had been a way ofgetting some extra flyinghours before his accident,and he had done 37 jumpsbefore as an ‘able-bod’.Solo, as a paraplegic, wassomething completely

different. With the support of Alan Gray ofAdelaide Tandem Skydiving, Greg Smith ofSA Skydiving, and instructor andphotographer, Curtis Morton, Dale setabout learning how to skydive as aparaplegic. ‘There was no manual on this,so we had to go back to basics,’ heexplains. ‘I managed to track down aSouth African guy by the name of PeterHewitt. He’s also a para and he’s nowdone about 120 jumps’, so he’s givensome great advice.

Dale’s T10 paraplegia means that hisabdominal core strength is compromised,and balance is affected - and, both legs areparalysed. Skydiving conventionallyrequires all of these abilities, formanoeuvrability in the air, and forlanding. Developing his gear has beenvery much a process of trial and error. Hispants rigging came about as an answer tothe question: ‘What can I do in a matter ofminutes to get my legs up out of the way?’He needs control of his legs in launchinghimself out of the plane, and especially forlanding, so that he can pull his legs up outof the way, and land safely on his rear.

‘I was an aircraft engineer, and workedwith a lot of fibreglass, sitting my CASAexams for composite materials. I also cutmy teeth on gliders at Waikerie—I used togo and help with the glider repairs.They’re some of the best fibreglass repairguys in Australia.’ All this put him in goodstead for dealing with the unique situationof jumping with paralysed legs.

The irony of developing his equipmentdidn’t escape Dale. A month before his

Can’t Walk, Can Fly

An Australian storyof triumph over adversity

Dale Elliott, paraplegic flyer.

first jump, he was swathed in a full plastercast, looking very much like the ‘seen-after’ shots of a disastrous jump. Theplaster cast was inspired by a 70’s militarymovie he tracked down on YouTube, whichshowed how to make an arm cast on thebattlefield. ‘The plaster cast workedperfectly,’ Dale says, as the mould formaking the fibreglass braces. Thesecustom- made fibreglass braces fit into thelegs of a pair of motocross pants, whichare further modified with extra padding tocushion his rear on landing. The braceskeep his legs rigid when necessary, andthe cords on the braces pull his legs up outof the way for landing.

The Mark 1 braces have scored a fewbumps and crashes – and they’rebeginning to show some fatigue cracks –so it’s now on to braces Mark 11. Dale isplanning on making these from 5mmpolypropylene plastic, working on thetheory that they will be much moreflexible and durable. Fellow paraplegicskydiver, Peter Hewitt, has had a specialpolypro orthopaedic pair made, but the$1000 cost of these is a deterrent. Dale’sworking on making his own; ‘This stuff(polypropylene) is great to work with. AllI need is an angle-grinder; a jigsaw; and acommercial-sized oven.’

He also dives with a modified parachutedonated by Parachutes Australia; theharness is adapted to allow for his

different body position. Whereas able-bodied skydivers adopt an arched positionto remain stable in freefall, Dale needs toconcentrate more on using his upper bodyto deflect air and stay in a stable position.His arms are far more active.

Fitness is also a big thing for Dale.Preparation for his first solo attemptfocused on building up strength andimproving his circulation. ‘You needstrength to move around the plane,’ heexplains, ‘and then there’s the 10-15kgchute to consider as well.’ So in the lead-up to the jump, he was doing 20-30kmhand cycle rides, getting his heart rate upover two to three hours. Mastering thesecomplexities, and coming up with themeans to skydive as a paraplegic is nodifferent, Dale argues, ‘when, as a pilot,you first get in a plane and look at all theinstruments. You’ve got to chunk it, andbreak it down, taking one thing at a time.’

Dale’s also a sit-down stand-up comic,who has braved hecklers at variouscomedy venues; and a motivationalspeaker. Following his appearance at theBrisbane conference, he flies to NewZealand in late June. He’s excited by thatprospect, because two NZ companies haveoffered to sponsor his equipment: NZAerosports are providing a new IcarusSafire2 canopy; and Deepseed are makinga customised jump suit. The braces fittedto external leg pockets in the new suit will

give much more flexibility inpreparing for a jump. He’ll talk toemployees of both companiesabout his skydiving journey. Thenthere’s the future challengeplanned for 2012. He figures itwould make quite a statement forthose with disabilities if he andfellow para skydiver Peter Hewittwere to skydive into the stadiumfor the opening of the 2012London Paralympic Games.

From his contact with the UKParachute Association, he’s foundthat they don’t have anyparaplegic skydivers, so he andPeter are planning on putting aproposal to the Games openingcommittee when it’s convened bythe London organisers later thisyear. ‘Peter and I have to gettogether and get to know eachother’s style and fall rates in thesky, and we’ll needdemonstration licences, whichrequire strict examination andlanding accuracy skills.’

As Flight Safety went to press,Dale gained his ‘A’ licence, and isnow a qualified skydiver.

According to CEO of the AustralianParachute Federation, Susan Bostock,‘Dale’s nailed it (his solo certification). It’squite mind- boggling,’ she says. ‘It’sdifficult enough for able-bodied skydivers.’The ‘it’ Susan refers to is the accuracyrequired for solo certification – to achievethis, skydivers must land within 25 metresof the target in the drop zone on 10occasions. ‘Some people who becomeparaplegics lock themselves away, andbecome recluses, but Dale’s different. Hejust says, “This is the card I’ve beendealt”, and makes the most of it.’ Recently,CASA has been working closely withparachute bodies such as the APF, on arange of safety procedures including cloudjumping procedures manuals, and aircraftoperation and maintenance issues. j

22

Dale Elliott prepares for another flight

This article is reprinted from FlightSafety Australia July - August 2009,with the kind permission of FlightSafety Australia editor MargoMarchbank.

23

Some fifteen years ago members of theGuild Technical and Air SafetyCommittee joined with the Flight

Operations Group of the Royal AeronauticalSociety and wrote a joint Paper called TheFuture Flight Deck. It was edited in 2005before being put on the Guild website whereit can be found under AviationMatters>Guild Policy and Comment>StudyPapers. At the time the Paper was right up todate and relevant since many members ofboth committees were actively flying the newgeneration of 'glass cockpit' aircraft whilestill having considerable experience of olderpiston, prop-jet and jet powered aircraft, bothcivil and military. Some of the commentabout the practical operation of these newaircraft was fairly outspoken and rightly so,but the philosophy of the autonomousaircraft and the future use of computertechnology was also explored. It was withsome trepidation that I recently attended alecture on the A350 flight deck design givenby Captain Jean-Michel Roy of Airbus at theSociety's premises at 4, Hamilton Place, tofind out whether any of the ideas expressed15 years ago had come to fruition.

While much detail was given during thelecture no more than a broad outline ofsignificant points could be noted fordiscussion here but the overall impressionwas that the technology in the A350 is similarto that of the A320, as is much of theoperating philosophy. What has changed isthe way in which the technology is now usedso that the operation is far more intuitiveespecially in certain significant areas. ThePaper is heavily critical of the methods ofinputting information to the FlightManagement System (FMS) usinginappropriate 'alpha-numeric' keyboardsoften requiring far too much typing (in thePaper, paras 2-4 and 6-7 refer) so I wasdelighted to see there is a 'querty' keyboard,trackball and menu system on the A350.Arguably the most important change of all,this allows a more natural pilot/machineinterface that will be familiar to anyone witha home PC.

A cause of high workload at inappropriatetimes on earlier aircraft was the interfacebetween paper and electronic data. Forexample, take off performance figures wereextracted from charts and paper referencesand inserted into the FMS, giving plenty of

scope for error, andelectronic displays oftake off and climbspeeds were thengenerated on thePrimary Flying Display (PFD). One of thereasons for doing it this way was thelimitations on computer power and databaseaccuracy available 15 or 20 years ago and,although less of a problem now, long designand manufacturing lead times still mean thatcomputer power in the aircraft is far less thanone would expect. Airbus have mitigated theproblem by providing laptop dockingpositions for each pilot so that up-to-datedatabases can be held in the laptops; thesecan use the latest computer technology tostore and generate data regardless of thestandard of the aircraft's built-in architecture.Operator-specific manuals, charts andcompany procedures can be held in thelaptops so the emphasis seems at last to havechanged from one that was still largely paperbased to one that is now computer based.That goes for check lists too, already shownon the screens in the A320 operation, whichhave been developed further on the A350. Anice idea is the facility to use a centre screeneasily visible to both pilots for briefing onletdowns or other stages of flight where bothpilots need to look at and discuss the sameinformation. There may be an argument forkeeping a very simple hardcopy emergencychecklist on the flight deck - how to land onwater for example - but everything else cannow be computer generated and useddigitally. In The Future Flight Deck it wassuggested (para 2-15) that the interface withcommunications equipment could beimproved and that has been done on theA350. Each pilot has a dedicated panel witha screen showing the radio frequencies in usetogether with all the available facilities whichshould minimise the chances of incorrectselection. Datalink is also an integral part ofthe design.

The main displays are on screens eight inchesby six inches, rather than the traditional sixby six, allowing extra information such as avertical profile below the Navigation Displayto be displayed, and there are more screensthan the six on the A320 with much moreversatility to display information on the mostsuitable screen for the particular situation orstage of flight. Airbus have developed theirphilosophy of using simple numbers forcontrol settings - for example flap/slatsettings on all Airbus aircraft are controlled

by an identically labelled lever with acommon method of operation regardless ofthe actual extension in degrees of the high-liftdevices on each type - and now showpercentage power rather than N1 or EPR onthe engine gauges, so whichever enginevariant is fitted to an aircraft the powersettings will have the same indications.

External cameras have been slowly makingtheir way onto aircraft for some time and theA350 utilises an external view looking fromthe fin forward over the top of the fuselage toassist in taxiing. Captain Roy showed a shortvideo of the camera being used inconjunction with a large scale taxi chartdisplayed on one of the screens which wasquite impressive. It's still no substitute forlooking out of the window, of course, butsurely has its uses! A camera is also used tomonitor the cabin side of the flight deck door,and the cabin itself. A HUD display is anoptional extra but there was no time todiscuss this in detail. However, HUDs weredefinitely thought to be a good thing in thePaper (para 6-4).

So what hasn't changed for the better? Theroof panel still has safety critical switches onit (para 2-11) and there are the same error-prone multifunction knobs on the glareshieldpanel to control the autopilots, autothrustand flight directors (para 2-14). In view ofcurrent health concerns over the effects ofprolonged exposure to bleed air, perhaps thefact that the pressurisation and airconditioning is unchanged from earlierdesigns will cause concern in some quarters.There is no longer a pitch trim wheel, insteadthere are electric elevator trim switches and atrim position indicator. Although Airbusdon't use an elevator trim in the conventionalway it might be argued that another feedbackcue has been lost. On the whole, though, Iwas much encouraged by the changes whichmake the A350 flight deck so much more userfriendly than the A320. The Guild and theRoyal Aeronautical Society can take greatpride that the ideas expressed by theirmembers fifteen years ago were right ontarget and although the Future Flight Deckisn't quite here yet the A350 is definitely astep in the right direction. j

The Future Flight Deck- Is It Here?PAST MASTER PETER BUGGE

24

As many Sunday newspapershighlighted the following day, there-creation of Blériot's epic flight

over the English Channel a century agowas successfully completed by anotherFrench pilot, Edmond Salis, flying arestored Blériot XI monoplane tocommemorate the centenary of the firstcross-Channel flight. The pioneeringFrenchman Louis Blériot had flownwithout instruments or a compass fromthe Sangatte cliffs near Calais to DoverCastle in Kent on 25 July 1909.

Exactly 100 years later, a flotilla of ancientand modern flying machines begancrossing the Channel from dawnincluding monoplanes built by Blériot. InFrance la Patrouille de France (French AirForce Display Team) performed overBlériot Plage in Calais and the Red Arrowstook part in a pageant at Dover Castle,close to which Blériot had landed.

Sadly rather less publicity forparticipating in the celebration wasgenerated by the 250+ microlights thattook part to mark the 100th anniversary ofa feat that amazed Europe. This was agreat shame since a huge effort had beenmade by the many pilots and'backseaters'. There was a contingent of94 British microlights, 128 French andaround 28 Belgians. While the Britsstarted from Calais the French entrantssensibly started at Berck sur Mer, a smalluncontrolled airfield some 10 kms southof Le Touquet, a feature that the Britishcontingent at fully controlled Calaiswould view with mounting enthusiasm asthe morning wore on.

My son-in-law Sebastian Pooley and I hadbeen invited to be 'backseaters' for thecost of an article. We should have arrivedin Calais by microlight on Friday, but the

forecast wasfor strongwinds andpoor vis thatday, sofortunatelywe wereoffered aride fromthe TigerClub atH e a d c o r ntaking LeShuttle on Thursday afternoon. Fridaywas a relaxing day walking round Calais,a little tasting with a friendly winemerchant and then a Civic welcome at8pm in the Town Hall, which is a mostimposing building.

Interestingly the many speeches lasted 45minutes while the champagne waswarming on the adjacent bar. Shortlyafter the reception began in earnest, weleft for a Gallic feast at Au Cote d'Argent -definitely recommended.

Saturday dawned relatively clear andmuch less breezy and the detailed flightbriefing took place in a hangar at 0800,given by Liveryman Keith Negal,Chairman of the British MicrolightAssociation. At long last I met my pilotAndy Oliver, who it transpires,appropriately works as an IT consultant inthe aviation sector. Andy was nearing theend of a two week holiday flying aroundEurope, and by the time he eventually gothome to Devon on Saturday night, he hadflown 2385 miles, visiting 29 airfields atan average of around 65 mph. He ownsthe immaculate Pegasus GT450; Pegasusis effectively the only UK microlightmanufacturer he informed me.

The aircraft were split into six maingroups with generally the slowest first but

it became evidentvery early on that theviews of the local airtraffic control and theneeds of the pilotswere never going tocoalesce. It becameapparent listening tothe radio, that thesingle controller wasoverwhelmed as shehandled Ground,Tower and Approachto mid Channel -more controllers forthe day? We were inGroup 5 and finallyfired up at about 1300

following one long ban on take-off whilethe Alpha Jets of la Patrouille de Franceentertained the crowds at the beach. Thisextended delay at least permitted thechance to view the many and varied typesof microlights taking part.

At last we were airborne and climbingtowards Calais town and then out over theChannel. Having only been in amicrolight once before in the warm climesover the Victoria Falls clothed in a simpleflying suit, I felt sure that the heavilyinsulated suit I was wearing would bemore than adequate. Wrong! You needproper boots and gloves at 5500 feetwhere we cruised for a while in order toensure a glide to one side of the DoverStraits should the engine fail.

100 years earlier Blériot had managed toget over the cliffs at Dover when the windcaught his plane and whirled him aroundtwo or three times. With his altitude atabout 65 feet (20 metres) and beingdriven by the wind, he immediately cutthe engine and dropped to the ground !Blériot commented “At the risk ofsmashing everything, I cut the ignition at20 metres. Now it was up to chance. Thelanding gear took it rather badly, thepropeller was damaged, but my word, sowhat? I HAD CROSSED THE CHANNEL!”British Customs had no provision for alanding other than by ship, so Blériot waslogged in as a ship's Master and the XI asa yacht.

Since the celebrations for Blériot weretaking place also at Dover Castle, weheaded towards Deal to the east of Dover,before turning for the old RAF Lashenden(Headcorn) landing around an hour aftertake-off. During WWII, Lashenden washome to the United States Army AirForces Ninth Air Force 354th FighterGroup. While many of the UK aircraftlanded here, the French had made theirway to Damyns Hall Aerodrome nearRochester.

The flight had taken around an hour andhad been a great experience. For Guild

BLÉRIOT CENTENARY25th July 2009PAST MASTER CHRIS HODGKINSON

The Town Hall, Calais.

Andy Oliver’simmaculatePegasus GT450

historians, it was appropriate that severalmembers should have taken part in theoccasion, as there is a photograph in ourarchives room at Cobham House taken in1934 of a luncheon to celebrate the 25thanniversary of Blériot's crossing, which

includes Blériot himself.

For those who might be tempted to take upmicrolighting, the licence requirements arethe same as for any other GA licenceexcept that it costs about half as much perhour. If you already have a licence, the

conversion is much cheaper, especially if

you go 3-axis (ie Foxbat or Icarus style).

But then real microlighting is flexwing

according to the officianados and they

sniff a bit at 'indoor flyers'.j

British registered Foxbat, built in Russia

Brian Milton’sflexwing Pegasus Quantum

912 Sport in which Brian made the firstmicrolight world circumnavigation in 1998.

The Historic Aircraft Association(HAA) was founded in the darkdays of the late 1970s, following a

series of air display accidents, particularlyfeaturing ‘warbirds.’ At the time they had acasualty rate far in excess of today, despitea lot fewer aeroplanes flying.

It was an early attempt at ‘self-policing’with pilots and engineers combining theirknowledge and working alongside thelegislators to offer a training and safetyframework – and it worked. Over the pastthree decades the accident level for oldertypes has fallen by over 70 percent.

At the core of the Association is theknowledge and expertise of its members.Many, including Wally Epton, Dick Felix,Dr. Michael Fopp, Ken Peters, RickPeacock-Edwards and Cliff Spink, are alsomembers of the Guild. They are among150 active HAA pilots and engineers whocontinue to further the safe flying,restoration and preservation of historicand heritage aircraft in the UK.

In the UK there are some 1700 aircraft onthe register built before 1960, which couldbe classified as being vintage or historic.Of these about 640 were built before 1946.They vary in size from the 7.5hp EnglishElectric Wren from the 1920s Lympnetrials, up to the mighty Vulcan.

However just as in the earliest years of theHistoric Aircraft Association, there is anongoing need to ensure that new pilotsand engineers operating vintage andclassic aircraft are fully briefed for the newchallenges they will face.

In the past, the HAA focussed on ensuringthat ‘first generation’ skills gained in theoriginal operation of types were handeddown or properly recorded. However the‘second generation’ thus trained, is alsonow maturing. While many previouslylearned their core skills while employed inthe Armed Forces, the numbers of the'third generation' with that military-basedexpertise is also significantly reduced.

Thankfully there is no shortage of youngerpilots who are keen toconvert onto older types,often as a diversion from achosen career path withairlines. As a centralisedsource of information on thevery different flying,displaying and engineeringprocedures for older types,the HAA remains now asever, an important resourceto operators in both the UKand further afield.

Nowhere is this betterdemonstrated than at the

forthcoming HAA Seminar which will beheld at the RAF Museum, Hendon onSunday 15th November. The subjects willthis year have a nautical slant (or is it alist) in celebration of 100 years of navalaviation. In addition to information onengineering and displaying a range oftypes, it will also include the first handmemories of Fairey Swordfish operation byJohn Moffat, whose aeroplane wascredited with disabling the Bismark.GAPAN members can take part in thisyear's Symposium at the same price asHAA members and will at the same timebe extended a complementarymembership of the HAA till March 2010.More information on this offer can befound at www.haa-uk.aero j

KEEPING SKILLS ALIVE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

25

HAA members visiting the 11 Group Battleof Britain bunker at RAF Uxbridge.

Words can hardly do justice tothe spectacle of witnessing theRAF's most pointy aircraft in

their natural habitat - just feet away in closeformation at 300 miles-an-hour. A highlightof an unforgettable Guild visit to RAF BrizeNorton in July this year.

Sqn Ldr Caterina Thompson, our host,warmly welcomed a good cross-section ofGuild members on a damp summer's day inOxfordshire. An RAF coach then whiskedthe group to the 99 Squadron lecture theatrewhere Wing Cdr Steve Foster-Bazin, OC OpsWing, gave a brief on the activities at BrizeNorton.

Home to No.2 Flying Training School uponits opening in 1937, the airfieldsubsequently housed the Heavy GliderConversion Unit, acted as a base forsuccessful D-Day missions, and the RAF'sTransport Command Development Unit. Itwas passed to the Americans in 1952, anddeveloped from a modest post-war airbaseinto the expansive airport it is today. RAFBrize Norton is home to three mainsquadrons: 101 Squadron operating 15VC10s, 216 Squadron running 9 TriStars and99 Squadron with 6 constantly taskedBoeing C17s.

In addition to these core activities, morethan 30 flights are provided annually bycharter airlines. Even though heading forsun and (lots of) sand, these flights are noholiday trips. It's a very busy airbase; asduty was rotated in Iraq, more than 22,000troops would pass through Brize Norton injust 8 weeks. Currently the so-called “AirBridge”, between the UK and Afghanistan,carries around 32,000 tonnes of freight anda whopping 223,000 passengers annually.

As well as the three regular squadrons onsite, other residents include the Joint AirDelivery and Test and Evaluation Unit, theDefence Movements School and No.1Parachute Training School (who carry outaround 13,000 descents a year) includingthe RAF Falcons parachute display team.

The Future of BZNThe 1st aircraft of the Future StrategicTanker Aircraft (FSTA) will be delivered toBrize in October 2011, with a full capabilityof nine aircraft in May 2014. These A330aircraft will be fitted with a defensive aidssuite enabling use in operational theatresand are seven times quieter than the VC10(restricted from flying into certain airfieldsdue to noise) - a significant capabilityenhancement. A quarter of FSTA pilots will

be civilians, acting as RAF Reserve Officerswhen operating the aircraft for the RAF.

The tactical and strategic airlift aircraft,A400M is also due to join the Brize Nortonfleet - falling-in between the C130 and C17aircraft. First aircraft delivery was plannedfor March 2014, with December 2014 as theIn Service Date with 7 aircraft delivered -however with the programme around 3years behind schedule this may well move'to the right'.

Future aircraft at Brize:

9 A330 (FSTA)

24 C130J

25 A400M

6 C17

>64 Charter aircraft per year

All these new aircraft represent a majorincrease in operations from the base,however most of these aircraft will be ondeployed operations.

The Master led a vote of thanks to our hosts,concluding a very insightful presentation,and so we headed for the first aircraft visitof the day.

C17 Globemaster

Immediately after their arrival ceremony in2001, the first C17s to arrive at the basewere filled with freight and promptlydespatched for Iraq - a level of use that hasnot wavered since. As the Guild groupapproached a towering C17 being preparedfor imminent flight to an exercise in the US,it became clear just how routinely theseaircraft endure harsh environments - theleading edges visibly blasted fromoperations in hot sandy places.

Initially four C17s were on a seven-year loanfrom the US as a stop-gap for the A400M,but their effectiveness was such that all fourplus an additional two Globemasters werebought by the RAF last year.

Climbing up the internal staircase to thecockpit, Flight Lt Andy Crichton gave a tourof the flight deck. Andy highlighted the

Heads-Up Display (HUD) as particularlyuseful, especially when landing in poorvisibility. On approach, a horizontal lineshows a representation of the runwaythreshold, and the flight path vector isshown by a circle with tick marks (the'pig'). So the idea is to use a littleimagination and 'get the pig on the dancefloor' by setting the Rate of Descent withpower - the huge flaps directing enginethrust to provide a significant vertical thrustvector. Once the rate of descent and HUDpicture are set, just a nudge of power isadded on touch down, with no flare!

The C17's performance is nothing short ofremarkable - at a landing weight of130,000lbs it has a landing roll of just 3000ft(915m).

Back in the hold, Sqn Ldr Stu Lindsell gavean overview of the C17 platform. It cancarry 80 tonnes - eight times the payload ofa Hercules. That equates to 2 Lynxhelicopters, 3 apaches, one Chinook or aChallenger 2 tank. The C17 has a sportingturn around time too, allowing foroffloading and post-flight servicing, in aslittle as eight hours.

Load master Flight Sergeant Jase Penn, thethird member of crew (along with the twopilots) gave a demonstration of theflexibility of the cavernous C17 cargo hold.Quick change roller rails were shown to berapidly and easily configured - in seconds,rather than hours on previous aircraft. Theonboard winch is capable of hauling aboarda massive 100,000lbs.

Getting the Pig on the Dance FloorLUDO FORRER, BRIZE NORTON, 22 JULY 2009

26

With all of these impressive capabilities, theC17 is most publicly identified as the largegrey aircraft seen at RAF Lyneham, carryingout the sad task of repatriating fallenservicemen and women.

The C17 currently conducts operations toAfghanistan via an en route fuel stop, as ithas no Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR)capability. So this was not to be the Guildtransport for the day; onwards to the nextSquadron.

Lockheed L-1011 TriStar216 Squadron dates back to 1917: as 16Squadron RNAS it was inherited by a newRAF in 1918 as 216 Squadron, with themotto “Bearing Gifts”. Formed as a nightbomber squadron, it flew DH10s, then in1942 flying Dakotas until 1949. In 1955 theComet joined the squadron, and finally in1984 the Lockheed TriStar arrived, providingan air transport and AAR capability.

Of the TriStar Fleet (3 C2s, 4 KCs and 2 Ks),the C2s variants are ex-Pan Am jets andused primarily for air transport. OperationHerrick is the squadron's bread and butter,a 7hr15min flight into Kandahar five toseven times per week, with over 200passengers on board. When asked about thebiggest challenge faced on these missions“Staying awake!” the crew responded.

Flight Lt Ed Johnson, Master Engineer DaveSimpson and Chief Tech Si Camm showedus aboard a TriStar KC1 (serial ZD950).What the C1 lacks in contrast to the C17, isa fuel tank inerting system - to prevent buildup of combustible gases as fuel is used. Thisis however being fitted to the TriStar'sreplacement, the FSTA.

Typically capable of donating about 40 of110 tonnes take-off fuel - at a massive 3tonnes per minute (faster than any othertanker) - the aircraft itself burns around 8tonnes per hour. The traffic light system onthe refuelling outlet gives refuelling status to'refuellees': Red: Stand off, Amber: Standby, Green: Fuel. At the front end the view isgood, the TriStar boasting one of the biggestwindshields of any airliner flight deck!

VC10 101 SQN:The day culminated in a visit to 101Squadron, home of the VC10. Formed in1917, 101 Squadron suffered the highestcasualty rate of WWII Bomber Command,as the largest squadron in the RAF.Spanning all but the inception of poweredflight, the squadron has seen a vast array of

aircraft from the Bristol Blenheim (1939-41)to the Vulcan (1957-82) and since 1984 theVC10. The youngest VC10 in the fleet is 39years old!

The VC10 'K3' and 'K4' are “3-point”airframes, allowing refuelling from eitherwing or the fuselage. The wing hoses cantransfer fuel at up to one tonne per minuteand are used to refuel tactical fast-jetaircraft. The fuselage-mounted Hose DrumUnit can transfer fuel twice as fast and isusually used to refuel 'heavy' strategicaircraft.

A primary duty is to support border patrolTornado F3s, who see one or two noseyRussian Bears per month - not the cute furrykind - to which the RAF always responds.

In June, a VC10 from 101 Squadron returnedfrom Iraq, to end the longest deployment inRAF history, with 19 years continualoperational service in the Gulf.

The 'DOT sheet' described our tasking. Thesortie was to be flown in AAR Area 5.Typically the tanker sets up a racetrackpattern, 12nm wide, for a fuelling orbit. Wewere to practice consolidation, AARbetween two tanker aircraft. We wouldrendezvous with and fuel Tornado GR4s andTyphoons from RAF Conningsby, recoveringto BZN, leading another tanker in to a visuallanding, via a “let-down recovery”. This isan approach where an aircraft leads a 'blind'aircraft towards the runway, so that in caseof navigation problems in poor weather,they can land safely.

After passing through the typical airportpassenger terminal, we walked out to ouraircraft, a VC10 C1K variant, APU runningand all crew busy in preparation for theimminent sortie. As an original VC10, ourtransport, XV101, bears the name of aVictoria Cross recipient Major LanoeHawker VC DSO.

Boarding the aircraft the spacious cabin,large areas of shiny white flooring highlightthe absence of most of the original seating.Just a few rows of seats immediately aft ofthe cockpit, three seats half way down the92ft cabin and at the rear ten more rows ofaft facing seats tucked into the tail. Aftfacing seats for air transport were adoptedby the RAF in 1945 to improve survivabilityin the event of an accident - a comfortingthought.

The furthest aft two seats in the aircraft aremanned by crew, monitoring the port

engines visually during take-off -communicating to the Captain (Flt Lt DavidHamilton) via headset.

Sgt Si Hey, Sgt Italy and SAC Danny Knowlesprepared the cabin for departure - providingan entertaining standard passenger brief, ingreen flying suits.

At 1240Z a loud, piercing whine resoundedthrough the cabin as the low bypassturbofans were wound up for take-off. Apartfrom the slightly unusual feeling of beingpulled forwards as the 138 tonne aircraftaccelerated along the runway, the take-offand climb was similar to any airlinedeparture.

After an hour of stable flight, we hit whatfelt like light to moderate turbulence. It soontranspired that the yawing motions and lotsof small rpm changes were in fact due to the'consolidation' practice already taking placewith another VC10 just feet ahead of us. Theseat belt signs were turned off and in smallgroups we visited the cockpit. As westooped into the flight deck an amazingsight greeted us - the 4 tail mounted enginesof another VC10 filling the windshield, soclose that the horizontal stabilizer of theaircraft ahead was out of view above. Morediscrete yet intense activity was taking place- a bead of sweat on the handling pilot'sforehead as he continually madeadjustments to thrust, attitude and bankabsolutely focussed on making theconnection with the tanker ahead. Justbeyond our refuelling probe, the wanderingreceptacle of the 80ft hose from the tankerin front - so close that one could imaginereaching out and touching it.

The pilot's eyes still fixed on the probe, nowjust 5-10 feet ahead, quick adjustments ofpower and bank being applied, the rudderpedals being employed to accurately line up- then, a blast of power and immediatelyback on the throttle to edge up to and intothe probe. Bleeding off the 5 knots or so ofovertake, the T-tail of the VC10 in front casta shadow over our windscreen… at a zero-feet formation at 270 knots!

Our position relative to the tanker aheadputs our aircraft's tail plane in thedownwash of the main wing in front,initially causing the oscillations in pitch thatwere felt earlier. The downwash is trimmed-out and the aircraft flies normally.

At 1400Z the excitement levels in the cabin

27

are brought up a notch - 2 Typhoons appearbehind the left wing, in echelon leftformation, as we formate 100ft to the right ofthe VC10 ahead.

Tanker sorties typically operate in a cell,with two or more tankers working together,one about a nautical mile behind the leadtanker, which instructs jets in need ofrefuelling where to go.

We refuel one of the Typhoons from the leftwing pod - just visible through the cabinwindows, face pressed up against thePerspex. Refuelling doesn't take long and thefighter breaks off overhead us to the right.

At 1430Z the rumble of turbulence beginsagain as flying pilot Sqn Ldr Al Scott slipsthe VC10 into the wake of the tanker aheadfor more practice consolidation.

No sooner does the rumble stop then we arejoined by two more Typhoons, looking sleekand agile in comparison to the 40 year oldtanker. With a Typhoon just 10 feet from ourleft wing, lunch is served.

Now our fellow VC10 extends all threerefuelling hoses and the two Typhoons moveup to refuel simultaneously, one on eachwing. They stay in position for about 20minutes (enough to fill a Typhoon from nearempty) and simultaneously break off fromthe feed to pull up and over us, again turninginto specks in the distance punctuating abackdrop of beautiful blue sky underlined bya layer of scattered cloud.

At 15:43Z a Tornado F3 appears on the leftside and formates just a few feet off thewingtip. The WSO waves back at us as thepilot drops a wing to slip underneath ourfuselage to receive from the right side pod. Afew minutes later a tandem-seat Typhoonapproaches our port side and starts to refuelfrom the left wing pod. Soon after, theTornado, having had its fill, breaks off highand right with afterburners trailing cones offlame, loud enough to be heard in our cabin.

At 15:53Z Typhoon ZJ931 formates on theright wingtip - close enough to read thename of the pilot stencilled below thecanopy. “Flt Lt E Smith” put on a display ofprecision flying, just feet from our right

wingtip, demonstrating the airbrake andeven finding a free hand to wave!

At 15:59Z Tornado 018 formates on our leftwingtip, and the Typhoon on the left podbreaks-off from the feed and formates aswing-man to the Typhoon still on our rightwing, just as another Tornado comes in toreceive from the right wing pod. It's gettingbusy!

Ten minutes later the Typhoons still in closeformation on the right wingtip break off tothe right, with a friendly wave.

At 16:12Z a Tornado starts fuelling from ourright-hand pod for just under ten minutes,studied by a smiling face at each cabinwindow.

As the Tornado detaches it is joined by awingman and breaks up and over us to theleft, again with waves from all four crew.

A short time later our fellow VC10 formateson our right wing for the let-down recoveryback to Brize Norton, with comments in thecabin of “absolutely fantastic!” and“incredible!” we start to descend.

A friendly “Ladies and gents, could youplease take your seats again now please!”from the cabin crew signifies the last fewmoments of an amazing trip. The finaldescent arrested with a great handful ofpower, letting in the VC10 on our wingbefore repositioning for our final approach.

Flaps and gear go down as we positiondownwind. The amount of power increasesstill and in the cabin, voices have to beraised in order to be heard.

At 17:29 the tyres touch down back at BrizeNorton and strangely after several hoursaboard an airliner we find ourselves backwhere we started - but what a day! j

GYM Doolittle Beer EveningLUDO FORRER

The second memorial beer evening, onThursday 3rd September was alaughter filled event at The Couch

pub in central London, saluting JamesDoolittle, a pioneer of aviation. 'Jimmy'Doolittle's studies in the 1920s revealed thatpilots required information external to thecockpit to determine wind speed anddirection. He was first pilot to perform anoutside loop - something previously thoughtto be fatal! Along with holding the air speedrecord and all major flying trophies, he alsocontributed a great deal to instrument flyinghaving carried out the first instrumentlanding using systems he himself had

developed. All this before distinguished actsof leadership in the US Air Force whichmade him a household name in the states.

As well as socialising with GYM members(and welcoming new Guild Member and BAFirst Officer Charlie Waters), the GYMCommittee used the opportunity to discussGYM business and future events.

If you are a member of the Guild, under 35years old and didn't receive notification ofthe Doolittle Beer Evening please send andemail with the subject 'Add GYM list'including your name and contact emailaddress to Ludo at events@gapanym.org.

The next memorial beer evening, at a venue anddate to be decided will be advertised by GYM e-newsletter and the website - the GYM Committeelook forward to seeing you there!j

28