CTFC News 14 February
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Solo and wings on the 23rd February
From the front desk

Aircraft

Aircraft accidents and incidents
African Skies 2

Bedtime reading (Safety topics for GA)
Humour
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Dates to diarise

23 February: Solo and Wings party at the club
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Solo and Wings on Friday 23rd February (not the 16th anymore!!)

Don't forget about the solo and wings party at the club on the 23rd!

All new soloists are requested to wear a tie (failing that, please wash certain other garments...)

Vossie will have the fires burning from 18:00, and obviously food will be available. Come meet and congratulate our achievers!

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From the front desk

Filling out the flight folios

Members are reminded that the flight folios must be completed correctly. Leaving out figures or sums requires Hilda or Beverly to take time out of their busy day to do it. For those of us with a shortage of fingers, there are calculators in the clubhouse.

If you would like to sponsor Hilda and Beverly an afternoon out for lunch, they have indicated that they will gladly do your folio calculations for you.

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Aircraft --> The Committee

The committee has received many complaints recently about the state of the Tomahawks, and this is currently being attended to. KKC is back with a red nose but looking absolutely fab!(Ed: When a camera, and KKC are in the same vicinity, at the same time, a picture will be posted!) We are just waiting for the plastic panelling to arrive from overseas in order to complete the extreme makeover. The instructors have recommended delaying refurbishment of the rest of the aircraft until the winter months due to down time of the aircraft and so KFV won't be going in just yet.

However, despite the refurbishment, the aircraft continue to be left in a complete mess sometimes by members. Empty water bottles, empty oil containers, apple cores etc are continually being cleaned out. Also, Carl has reported that on occasion, the aircraft is not chocked correctly, pitot cover is not in place and seat belts left in a tangled mess in the plane. This is unacceptable. If there is anything that bugs you about the planes that is not being attended to, please contact Carl at the Club or David (get his email/phone number at the club)

We urge all members to ensure that our aircraft are treated with the respect they deserve. We will shortly be introducing a fine system for offenders. There is nothing worse than going to fly and the person before you has left the aircraft looking like a tip.

While on the topic of trips, there are 3 "away kits" available at the reception. Please feel free to book them out if you are going to be staying overnight or think you might need a spare spark plug. One for the Tommies, one for KSS and one for KBK.

You will all have noticed the new signage which looks really good. Thank you to Dave Barnes for expediting this.

The next committee meeting is 19 February. We invite all new members who have not met us before, to join us at 18h00 for a quick drink so that we can get to know you all.

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Aircraft Incidents & Accidents 4/20: Famous people --> Danny Buitendag

1. David Coulthard

On 2 May 2000, a Learjet 35 crashed during final approach to an emergency landing at Lyon Satolas International Airport in France. An IFR flight plan was filed from the departure airport, Farnborough, UK, to the destination, Cote D'Azur Airport, Nice, France. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at Lyon.

During an ATC-directed descent from FL390 to FL370, the pilot radioed a MAYDAY, stated that they had lost an engine, were descending below FL 370, and requested an emergency landing at the nearest airfield. ATC acknowledged the emergency, cleared the flight in the descent, and offered emergency airports. The flight requested the nearest airport with a runway of at least 1,600 meters in length. ATC asked if the flight wished to land at Lyon, and the pilot accepted.

On a straight-in final, near the approach end of the runway the airplane was observed to bank sharply to the left. The left wing tip tank struck grass, the fuselage then impacted and the airplane came to rest in the grass to the left of the runway. There were post-impact fires on both sides of the fuselage, which were extinguished by airport fire and emergency personnel that were standing-by during the declared emergency landing.

Coulthard and the passengers miraculously escaped from the burning wreckage through a broken window of the section of the fuselage that had broken away from the cockpit. Coulthard said he was familiar with the aircraft, but said it was not the aircraft or the crew that he uses on a regular basis.


2. Patrick Swayze

The pilot of a Cessna 414A, Patrick Swayze, reported hearing a loud noise and feeling his ears pop while the aeroplane was in cruise at 12,900 feet. Radar data revealed that the aeroplane was on a relatively straight and level track until approximately 1 hour prior to the accident, when it initiated a spiraling descent to the left. It then proceeded on an erratic flight path, with the altitude varying between 6,000 and 9,000 feet. The pilot reported having trouble seeing his instruments and felt confused. He thought he was landing at an airport near his ranch, but landed on a road and struck light poles.

Witnesses at the accident site stated that the pilot appeared impaired and confused, but did not smell of alcohol. He reported that he did not consume any drugs or alcohol prior to, or during the flight, but did report smoking three packs of cigarettes a day and also smoked cigars.

Examination of the pressurization and cabin air systems revealed a fractured clamp that could have prevented the cabin from maintaining pressurization. In addition, there was evidence of engine exhaust by-products in some components of the pressurization system. The source of the engine exhaust infusion into the pressurization system could not be determined.

It was concluded that the accident was caused by the pilot's physical impairment due to the cumulative effects of carbon monoxide from engine exhaust by-products, carbon monoxide from heavy tobacco use, and the loss of an undetermined amount of cabin pressurization. The loss of pressurization compounded the problem. There were no injuries. The accident occurred 01 June 2000 in Prescott Valley, Arizona, USA.

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African Skies 2 -->Schalk Burger

Zulu Lima Romeo, no reported traffic. Report ready for descent.

A transmission like this in and around an ATZ/CTR without Radar control is wonderful to hear. You can basically do whatever you want with your descend and at your own pace, time …anything. Nothing is out there for you to be concerned about. Or is there…?

That same transmission can be pretty “eye opening” when just moments earlier you overheard on exactly the same frequency, speaking to exactly the same, lets call him a “controller” (for the lack of an adequate word), an outbound aircraft report climbing through a fright level just below yours, en route to exactly where you are inbound from.

And sure enough, there he is, maybe 200m to the left and climbing past you in that Twin Ottery kind of way. You know…slowly.

Amazingly, this is more a rule than an exception when flying in airspace…how to say this…under the authority of either untrained or uninterested (the former leading to the latter) personnel.

When the weather is clear and there aren’t any clouds to hide those pesky little Twin Otters, Let410s, Caravans and those occasional huffy and puffy cast iron Russians… those two ocular TCAS receivers in your forehead work pretty hard, but effectively.

Paint that same sky with some white and fluffy patched of puff, haze or dust and your ocular TCAS will most probably only effectively detect the ocular TCAS units of the crew in the aircraft about to hit you head on.

Its times like these that you only have that picture drawn up in your mind’s eye to tell you where that rascal of an Antonov is hiding… or at least help you guess in the case of some of our Russians and local comrades.

Those really important senior airline pilots who interview new wannabe’s (like myself) and write hard cover books about what you really should know about flying, call it Situational Awareness. I simply call it being awake, and flying in African skies forces you to develop this important skill to a fine art.

You become your own controller (so much for my invite to the next Cape Town ATC bash), anticipating for anything and anyone around you, even in controlled airspace. Actually…make that ESPECIALLY in controlled airspace. Keeping a “listening watch” takes on a whole new meaning in some of the places that one visits flying contracts. The fact that mid-air collisions make up such a minute percentage of Africa’s atrocious accident stats, speak absolute volumes for the situational awareness skills of the pilots flying in these skies.

Not all of these botched traffic situations are near death experiences though. Some are actually quite light hearted, even down right hilarious.

Sometimes our Russia friends, not coming from African soil as we do, get, shall we say, irritated with this ATC “system” that actually provides more work than help sometimes.

Not too long ago I heard of the Illusion 72 captain that called ready for taxi only to be told to stand by. Captain Coldwar obviously didn’t particularly feel like waiting, and seeing that the only thing larger than an Illusion 72 is also Russian, proceeded to taxi towards the runway. The controller obviously much more interested in the two or three (much smaller) aircraft approaching his airfield, failed to notice the gargantuan aircraft taxing and entering the runway. When finally the controller did notice the big piece of cast iron on his runway, I am sure quite a few things went through his mind, but what came out over the air, as I understand it, was somewhat distressed and resulted in some rapid instructions including the words “go-around” being used. After a heated monologue aimed at Captain Coldwar in which it was made very clear that our hero was to vacate the runway immediately to give way for landing traffic, the last, and only words heard from the Illusion was, “No you baboon…we go NOW!”, followed by the very distinct, and loud (I might add), sound of 4 huge Russian jet engines spooling up to full power… and taking off!

I can see that my time here in Chad will be another opportunity to sharpen up and practice my situational awareness skills. Actually, I have started doing a completely non-standard after take off call stating my outbound track, level climbing to and take off time on the controlled tower frequency. I have realized that here an inbound aircraft cannot hear the transmissions of the aircraft on the ground taxing for take off, and seeing as the Commissioner of ICAO sitting in the tower only knows one line of ICAO RT (no reported traffic), a transmission like this tells the situational aware pilot that might be inbound, that guess what, there actually IS reported traffic out there and coming his way.

And what does the Commisioner of ICAO reply to this very proper and official sounding transmission…? You guessed it!!

Zulu Lima Romeo, no reported traffic.

Next time, life in the places we go.

Au revoir

Abeche Apron at sunset

Mil gunships starting up. Rocket pods underslung…poor locals.

The twin peaks of Abeche

Spot the runway…

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Safety topics for GA (originally posted on avcom.co.za)

http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?categoryid=33&pagetype=65&applicationid=11&mode=list&type=sercat&id=21

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Humour

New and unusual words--> Linda Hodgkinson

Foreploy (verb): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid

Caterpallor (noun): The colour you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you’re eating.

Giraffiti (noun): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

Cashtration (noun): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

Bozone (noun): the substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating.

Arachnoleptic fit (noun): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.

Over the airwaves

1)
Cape approach (Chatham, Massachusetts) : "Cessna Four Five Six, are you aware that you are heading toward a restricted area?"

Cessna: "No, I wasn't aware of a restricted area. What's in there?"

Cape approach: "It's some type of microwave installation."

Cessna: "Yup, I see a tower ahead."

Cape approach: "That's the tower I want you to miss. If you fly near that tower, it could ruin all your equipment, and you'll

never have anv children."

Cessna: "Roger that. Turning now..."

2)

(The pilot was behind a Grob 115 that checked in with the tower, holding short of the active, ready for takeoff, with a Shorts Skyvan on final. This is what happened next...)

Tower: Grob 123, sit tight. I'll get you off just as soon as I get my shorts down.

[pause]

Tower: (With laughter clearly audible in background) Oh, you know what I meant!

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