February 2008
[ No Printable PDF version yet, the source word document was a bit garbled, I’ll scan one in for you guys who like PDF when I get the printed version. ]
Welcome everyone to the first newsletter of the year. As I write this it is raining, which we all desperately need. Lets hope it lasts for a few days. The new airstrip certainly needs it to flatten out some of those bumps and push in the stones. We have had some great working bees at the Oxford rally site.
The first workday involved pulling down an old shed and sorting the materials, pulling out old nails, stacking iron and 6 by 2’s and shifting it all to the new site. The next workday there were about 30 people there on a good hot (30 plus degree’s) summers day.
The whole strip was rock picked which was a fantastic effort. I was impressed by everyone’s stick ability in very hot and trying conditions.
We also got the poles in for the mess area. The following weekend the trusses were put up and the purlins put on. The roof went on, on the following weekend. Last weekend we put the cladding on. So now we have our very own mess hall although there is still some finishing off work to do to.
The day the roof went on started with Phil Hayward arriving in his Jabiru. Phil is the first official visitor to the strip. The following weekend Bevan Kendall arrived in his thruster, so the strip is definitely suitable for our purposes.
Good progress has been made. An especially big thanks must go to Phil Hayward who has been at every working bee and managed the project for us. Thanks also to Mike Small who has lent his expertise, digger, generator and tools to the project. From a dream and a vision, reality is happening.
What is happening out there?
Caroline Trevalla has passed her intermediate flight test. Congratulations
Troy Glover soloed a glider at Omarama. Well-done Troy.
The trike boys are going on their biannual Easter fly down south. We will miss them at the Oxford Rally this year but they should be there next year and maybe they will use Oxford as their base in 2010. It sounds like a great trip. Make sure you get some photos and a story for us all.
Grant Porter has an Avid Flyer (ex Paul Havills) based on the airfield in David Smalls hanger. Grant is hoping to be at the Easter Flyin.
A message from the CFI.
Novice pilots, make sure you get approval from an instructor before you go flying. You will be grounded if you fail to do so.
There will be random logbook checks, so make sure that the paper work is up to date. This goes for all pilots.
Coming up later in the month there will be theory courses run for those wanting to sit their exams. The dates aren’t finalised yet, so keep an eye on the board in the clubrooms, or check out the website.
JOL
You may have seen in The Press that JOL had a landing incident in the weekend. Fortunately little damage was done and JOL should be back in the air very soon. The good thing is that we can rob a few parts from JOR to get JOL up and running.
The right hand leg broke on takeoff. Fortunately Rodger was alerted before he came in to land so he was prepared. Emergency services were alerted which of course meant the media found out as well.
Congratulations go to Rodger Ward who did a brilliant job of landing JOL with no injury to him or Richard. Thanks to all the club members who helped out at the time. A job well done.
New members
A big welcome to Alastair Millar, Graham Mitchell and Grant Porter.
We hope you enjoy your time with the club.
From the President
Welcome to the first newsletter of 2008. Another year starts and new challenges are ahead.
We are growing rapidly as a club and with it our responsibility grows to stay a professional organization that provides excellent training at an affordable price.
No more was this more prevalent than this weekend when JOL suffered an undercarriage failure on take off and had to land on the left side and the nose. Roger carried out an exceptional landing with JOL having only minor damage.
Everything went very well after the event, emergency services were called as they should have been, the media were controlled and the Club and Microlighting came through the incident strongly. We have presented ourselves as a polished professional organization which we can all be proud of. Well done everyone.
This year is going to a busy one with the completion and further development of the new strip at Oxford. We have had a number of working bees over the last year to clear tress, scrub, shift stones, fill holes, demolish a barn, build an shed and tidy the area to make a very presentable functional camping area and airstrip. Much thanks must go to Dave McPherson and Mike Small who started the ball rolling and carried out a lot of the heavy machinery work in the early days. Mike and Dave have continued to drive the project ably assisted by Phil Hayward who organized everyone to be there when needed. The club sprit is very high and we can all be very proud of our achievements. The Easter flyin has been the centre of attention for a while for Carolyn and Ngaire who have put together some great advertising for the event. The event is shaping up to be a good one, lets hope we can get some club planes on site!!
This year will also see the building of our third hangar and one by Doug Anderson to start off our Microlight aviation park. Council have allocated the club a huge area for our future development. We have space for members to build hangars, we will develop car parks, aircraft parking, picnic areas and a new clubhouse.Council is very supportive of the venture and will offer assistance where it can.
Our new hangar is 20m by 20m with openings to the northwest and southeast. A building consent has been applied for and the kitset is being manufactured. Next stage is the building of the concrete pad. Keith Dekkers will be our building supervisor and will be building Doug's as well.
As with the strip at Oxford we will need a lot of help from our members. So when you see a working bee advertised please do your best to do your bit. Many hands make light work. Get involved and feel the club sprit that is so strong in our club.
As mentioned earlier Russell Woods is recovering well from his heart attack he suffered while helping out at Oxford while Ivan Campbell is recovering after an uncomfortable operation and will be quiet for a while. Meanwhile Russell Warnock had become the latest bionic man with a replacement hip. The club wishes you all a speedy recovery and hope to see you all at our flyin at Oxford in late March.
As President, I can say that I am very proud to represent the club and it's members who are such a good bunch that make the club such a strong and vibrant organization.
Thanks,
Mike
RANS S6 CHAOS BUILT BY PETER DYER AND TEST FLOWN 2/12/07
Article by Chris Dyer
Dad purchased the kit from Russell Brodie approximately four years ago and has been quietly beavering away at it ably assisted when required by Paul Woodley who did the covering and inspection, Arnold Gallagher with innumerable tips and expert advice, Don Payne who wired her up to GA spec. ( discarding some supplied componentry as not up to his exacting standards), and Pat Scotter who so generously gave of his time and any bits and pieces Dad needed, and performed the weight and balance requirements. Many others offered support during the project. Mike Small was on hand when the first engine start wasn’t working out and after much head scratching simply pulled off an air cleaner, & put his palm over the throat. I continued cranking, and amidst clouds of oil rich blue smoke she fired up one pot at a time, (grins and high fives).
The following weeks saw us making lots of noise running in the 503, tweaking, and tuning, and checking all her bits for the umpteenth time. Now was the time for some taxi tests and as the speeds increased we began to realize this was no draught horse and more of a skittish pony. Was the tendency for her to want to ground loop as the throttle was closed something to do with incorrect toe-in or toe-out, tail wheel /rudder coupling or simply what S9’s with their narrow track short moment arm and long propeller do?
About this time discussions revealed the legal niceties prevented Dad with his 4000+ hours on tail draggers from test flying her. This privilege is for ATO’s, senior instructors or those with a test pilot rating. Further discussion with RAANZ suggested a type rating may assist with further negotiation, so a trip down to visit the ever-helpful Russell Brodie in Dad’s Coyote was organized. Russell provided us with familiarization flights in his 2 seat S10 which displayed the typical of type end of landing twitchiness. Russell demonstrated and discussed the technique required explaining that you have to ‘think them straight’ and keep an eye on a tree or such like over the cowl to get on to any drift straight away and to avoid sealed runways or those with excessive camber until such time as we’ve built up some hours. It was a contented trip back to Rangiora knowing nothing was out of the ordinary with our machine.
The next time I took JULIET ROMEO PAPA (the registration was a bit of a fluke as it implies ‘a love story for Dad’) down the runway I must have experienced an undulation in the runway or an unexpected gust as she lifted off to about 3m before I settled her back down sweet as. For some reason my saying “Oops” caused a ripple of mirth amongst those who were sort of hanging around! Later whilst pottering in the cockpit I heard a commotion at the door and our neighbour came in to explain Dad had taken a tumble over my dog, which resulted in a fractured rib for Dad. This put him out of the picture for flying for a bit so I got offered the ride of a lifetime.
Now it was time to get serious on the legal side of things. Rodger Ward offered to check me out as Test Pilot and to simulate the S9 characteristics we did some flapless take off and landings on three points in the Coyote which I must say feels so wrong but works OK. A bit of a brush up on stalls, and spin (theory) followed by simulated instrument and engine failures sorted the practical. Then a quiet chat about a mature and sensible attitude, i.e. no crowds, perfect conditions, thorough pre-flight etc. and a logbook endorsement saw me ‘go for launch’.
The following Saturday night suggested good conditions for the morning and all was arranged. Like a kid on Xmas eve sleep proved elusive but I eventually succumbed only to wake at the first birdcall. A heavy dank drizzle saw me back in the sack for a coupl’a more hours. Improving weather had me assemble my support team comprising our 18 yr old border Mickey whose training at the Aviation Academy, Dad of course, and my good buddy Steve Watt whose not only an expert model aircraft pilot but also a superlative photographer/film maker. Hey if I couldn’t have a crowd I still wanted bragging evidence! Conditions were near perfect. Late in the morning admittedly but the earlier overcast saw the airfield quiet, there was ample ceiling, and best of all 7 knots of NE straight down 07.
After all the checks I would have been surprised if anything could go wrong but as though to remind me to concentrate the first attempt at starting produced the ‘click’ that tells me to turn on the master! OK, warmed up, DVA’s, final scan of the circuit, line up, check the sock, 3 deep breaths to calm the mind and it’s all on. Rodgers earlier advice to load her up and put her down for another pre flight seemed unnecessary in the light of my earlier hop. She sprang into the air at 40 knots and Rodgers advice to halve lift off speed and add it for climb out and approach, i.e.; 60 knots was on the ASI within a few seconds. A bit of height and a check of roll and pitch response satisfied me to go for it. Everything seemed fine over those bloody trees at the end of 07 but a check on the turn and slip showed the ball well out of centre. Putting it back in the middle assisted me into the first left turn to crosswind, levelling however seemed a bit reluctant, no big deal with those full span ailerons though, and following Rodgers advice I kept up the power down wind till at 1500’ indicated I climbed across the field to the non traffic side to experiment with power settings, turns, climbing and descending all in the green zone of the ASI. All went well and the feeling of having wings coming out of your shoulders was exhilarating. The rejoin and long approach at idle with a wee trickle at the threshold to arrest the sink saw her sit down like the elegant lady she is. This was way too much fun and with a return to full power the lady turned back into the Mustang. Such joy is a rare experience and I guess what hooks us all. One quick circuit and another dainty landing and it was back to the hanger to debrief and adjust the lift strut to fix the roll problem, reluctantly shut the doors and return to the mundane till the next weekend. Thanks Dad, your sixth completed build is gorgeous. Well done.
Oxford Easter Flyin
Preparations are well underway for the Easter flyin. We hope that we have plenty of club members turn up. Even if you can’t stay, we would love to see you there. It is not too far away for the family to come and make a day of it. There is plenty of room for camping. We will have toilets, a shower and facilities for cooking. You could always purchase a high-class meal from “Haywards Café” especially prepared on site. We will have an official opening of the field later on with a special guest to open it
Other Events
The RAANZ national flyin is on March 7th-9th at Waipukurau in the Hawkes Bay. Have a look on the RAANZ web site for more details. There is talk among club members of a trip up there. Ask around the club if you are interested in going and you might be able to link up with someone.
Christine Denhaan has given me a web site that Brian Millet runs, that has coming events on, which could be interesting to members. The site is www.homepages.paradise.net.nz/skypilot/events.html
Well that’s it for this month. I have put the newsletter together in a bit of a rush this month so I apologise for any mistakes in it. Our computer is ill and needs an overhaul and is booked in today.
Safe flying
Dave McPherson