CTFC News 28 September 2007
Dates to Diarize
PPL Course Dates
State of the Fleet
We'd like to welcome our newest addition, ZS-IDL, a Cessna 150 to our fleet. The plane has had a new engine put in, a new prop fitted and has been stripped down and re-painted. She also has a new interior, and will be ready for hire & fly and ab-initio training once the final paperwork has been completed. Watch this space.
With regards to the upgrading of our fleet, we are very interested in hearing from JOE PILOT as to what course we should be following. The questions are as follows:
ATC flip day round 2
Saturday the 20th October is International Day of the Air Traffic Controller.
To celebrate this day, CTFC will be hosting an ATC flip day.
(If you recall, the last one was rained out earlier this year...the weather WILL be perfect this time!)
The idea is to take the controllers and assistants flying from 12-2, and then braai/party after.
If you can help in anyway, be it flying or braai-ing or anything in between, please let Gareth know. (email: garethpinnock@gmail.com)
As previously stated, there will be no minimum hour requirement for planes going to the TFDC Overberg Fly In (including the Tomahawks). Bookings will take place on a first come, first serve basis and the booking sheets for the event should be accessible on the 12th of October. For more information on the event please visit www.flyin.org.za.
End of year function
Beverley needs numbers for catering purposes for the year end function ASAP. The year end function is on the 24th November and we will be having a spit braai which is the best you will ever taste. Of course this does cost money and the club will be sponsoring a portion but tickets can be purchased at R50-00 per head.
Confirm you're coming either by phone (021 934 0257) or email (info@capetownflyingclub.co.za).
Prizes/sponsorships
Vossie needs our help with the donation of prizes and sponsorships towards the cost of the event. If you can help, or would like to be involved in the organising, drop Vossie an email on geminimotors@telkomsa.net.
Donated prizes so far:
Club Jackets
We are looking at introducing a club jacket. There is a sample hanging in reception, please have a look and give us some feedback or suggestions!
Courses & English Language Proficiency Rating
DEAL ALLIANCE will be offering the following courses at the Cape Town International airport at the Cape Town Flying Club premises:
All SA pilots will need to do the Aviation English Language Proficiency Rating with their next licence renewal or by the 15 December unless they provide proof of English first or second language at Matric level. In this case they will automatically be given a Level 5 Rating which is renewable in 6 years time. If they do the Interview with a Test Centre, however and are rated as Level 6 speakers, they will not have to do a Rating ever again. Deal Alliance is the Approved Test Centre here in the Cape. The Interviews cost R700.00 and are held at Signature Flight Support.
December Courses
Deal Alliance will be offering an Initial CRM (2 days), or refresher (1 day) followed by "Dangerous Goods" (1 day). Then they will also be offering a general radio licence test and the language proficiency rating (See above). This will all take place in the week of the 10th December. From next year, this will be offered on a regular basis.
Further details on the Pilot Ground Schools for this year and on the Language Proficiency Ratings can be obtained from either Vanessa or Deborah on the following cell numbers:
Deborah 082 495 8179
Vanessa 076 745 2423
Incidents & Accidents
The importance of a thorough pre-flight
by Danny Buitendag
An Aeroperu Boeing 757 crashed into the ocean less than 30 minutes after taking off from Lima, Peru in 1996. Pieces of duct tape placed by maintenance personnel, were found covering sensors, causing the malfunction of instruments. The crew was not able to correctly determine their altitude and airspeed and with no ground reference over water and at night, crashed into the ocean. Although a maintenance worker was tried for negligent homicide for failing to remove the adhesive tape (he received 2 years in jail), who did the preflight?
How not to fly your Airbus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYfhC9ft_hk
This footage if from a recent airshow in Portugal. The Airbus A310's wingtip comes dangerously close to the ground during a very low altitude pass!
Lucky Escape
This man is Robert Robertson, a 34 year-old pilot who miraculously escaped a crash. His Beech 18 ran into trouble shortly after takeoff and came down on a highway in Florida, US. As the aircraft was ripped apart all around him, Mr Robertson managed to stay in one piece, with only a broken leg, arm and nose.
Living dangerously - VFR flight into IMC
by Gareth Pinnock
http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/flightassist.mp3
The above MP3 (approximately 3MB big) is a recording of the exchange between a pilot flying VFR and a controller. The pilot has entered IMC, and loses control of his aircraft. Skip the first minute of the recording to hear the actual exchange. There can be little doubt that this pilot understands the true meaning of terror.
The following piece by an unknown author illustrates what this pilot has just experienced.
Here's the fatal scenario. . . . . . .
The sky is overcast and the visibility is poor. That reported 8km visibility looks more like 3, and you can't judge the height of the overcast. Your altimeter tells you that you are at 1500 feet but your map tells you that there's local terrain as high as 1200 feet. There might be a tower nearby because you're not sure how far off course you are. But you've flown into worse weather than this, so you press on.
You unintentionally ease back just a bit on the controls to clear those towers. Without any warning, you're in the soup. You peer so hard into the milky white mist that your eyes hurt. You fight the feeling in your stomach. You try to swallow, only to find your mouth dry. Now you realize you should have waited for better weather. The appointment was important, but not all that important. Somewhere a voice is saying, "You've had it -- it's all over!"
You now have 178 seconds to live.
Your aircraft feels on even keel but your compass turns slowly. You push a little rudder and add a little pressure on the controls to stop the turn but this feels unnatural and you return the controls to their original position. This feels better but now your compass is turning a little faster and your airspeed is increasing slightly. You scan your instruments for help, but what you see looks somewhat unfamiliar. You're sure that this is just a bad spot. You'll break out in a few minutes. (Only problem is you don't have a few minutes left.)
You now have 100 seconds to live.
You glance at your altimeter and you are shocked to see it unwinding. You're already down to 1200 feet. Instinctively, you pull back on the controls but the altimeter still unwinds. The engine RPM gauge is in the red and the airspeed, nearly so.
You have 45 seconds to live.
Now you're sweating and shaking. There must be something wrong with the controls; pulling back only moves the airspeed indicator further into the red. You can hear the wind tearing at the aircraft.
You are about to meet your Maker; you have 10 seconds to live. Suddenly you see the ground. The trees rush up at you. You can see the horizon if you turn your head far enough but it's at a weird angle -- you're almost inverted. You open your mouth to scream but. . . .
. . . .you just ran out of seconds.
Continuing into IMC conditions continues to claim lives. Remember, statistics show that accidents involving weather as a contributing factor have an 80% fatality rate.
Does it seem hard to believe that one tends to ignore the instruments in scenarios like this? We try to overcome a lifetime of listening to and trusting our bodies by doing a few hours (40 in the case of an instrument rated pilot) instrument training.
Our brain is the biggest culprit. Look at the picture below. Which shapes are moving?
Actually, none of them are moving. Our brain misinterprets what the eyes are telling us. The brain can also misinterpret other visual cues. Just think back to when you were last at a stop street and the car next to you started moving – for a few seconds you may have had the feeling that you were moving backwards. The ease with which the brain can be fooled gets VFR pilots killed in IMC. For some of the illusions, visit: http://www.rjma.com/flight/airwaves/in_flight_illusions.htm
The CAA regulations state that a pilot may not take off when the weather along his/her planned route is below the VFR minima, and yet many pilots still take off in the hope that things will improve. The disease called “get-home-itis” is in many cases fatal, and at best leads to breaking the law by “scud running” at low level, or at worst to your first and last acquaintance with the “graveyard spiral.”
And IMC at night?
It is interesting to note that the CAA wanted to make auto pilots compulsory for all VFR night flights back in 2003.
AIC 23-2 states:
The attention of all pilots is therefore again drawn to the fact that a take-off at night from certain aerodromes which are situated away from towns or cities or other surface light sources, may well be considered as an IFR take-off when no clearly discernible horizon is visible from the cockpit or flight deck. This may apply on a particularly dark, moonless night or on a night with overcast sky and it may also apply only in certain directions of take-off.
And read in conjunction with AIC 40-4:
The Civil Aviation Regulations do not forbid VFR flight by night, however, irrespective of the weather, ATC’s should encourage all flights capable of operating under the IFR and intending to operate in any controlled or advisory airspace, except flights which do not intend leaving the aerodrome traffic circuit, to operate under the IFR.
The proposal for autopilots was scrapped, thanks to the tireless work of SAPFA(South African Powered Flight Association):
(http://www.sapfa.org.za/pdf_files/SAPFApart91.pdf)
We understand that there have been a number of fatal accidents at night but our information is that these tend to be in the take off or landing stages of the flight when the auto pilot will be disconnected. There have also been instances of controlled flight into terrain. In these instances it appears that the accidents were due to misidentification of terrain as airspace and once again access to an auto pilot would not have prevented an accident.
Looking at the CAA's original proposal, and reading the two AICs, the message from the CAA is clear: the challenges facing a VFR only pilot do not only occur in bad weather.
We owe it to our family and passengers to be aware of the challenges, as well as having the capability to face those challenges when they arise. It is up to the PIC to ensure that he/she has had adequate training recently enough – not necessarily by the legal definition only, but rather by your own definition of what you think makes a safe, current and capable pilot.
Aviation News: Cessna's Jet Sales Taking Off
The head of Textron Inc.'s Cessna Aircraft Co. said the airplane manufacturer's backlog stands at $11 billion - the most in eight decades of operation - as business jet orders and deliveries continue to grow.
Jack J. Pelton, chairman, president and CEO of Cessna said in a statement the company had orders for 2,700 units on its books as of Aug. 31. Half of those are Citation-model business jets.
So far this year, Cessna has secured orders for 525 business jets, compared with 496 during all 12 months last year, the company said.
Speaking at an industry conference, Pelton said Cessna plans to deliver 380 business jets this year, up from 307 last year. The company plans to deliver 470 in 2008, he said.
"This extraordinary rate of growth is being driven by strong economies and corporate profits and a rapidly emerging global marketplace," he said. "Clearly, our strategy of having the broadest, most comprehensive product line in the industry is serving us well."
Aviation Fun: Jeremy Clarkson on Flying
STOLEN FROM TIMESONLINE
Last weekend, a friend of mine was killed when his helicopter crashed in Scotland. And then, just hours later, another friend was lucky to walk away when his chopper flipped onto its side while making an emergency landing in Essex.
Strangely, however, it’s not a fear of dying that puts me off the idea of private aviation. It’s the surefire knowledge that nothing in all the world is likely to be quite so boring and pointless.
The idea of piloting your own helicopter or light aircraft, among the clouds and the linnets, far above the jams and the pressure, is an appealing prospect for anyone who doesn’t know what to do with his money.
Better still, you might imagine that you could enliven your journey by swooping underneath low bridges, divebombing fields of cattle, looping the loop over friends’ houses and landing for the hell of it in beauty spots and bird sanctuaries.
Only last month, I flew down the Okavango River in Botswana in a twin-engined light aircraft; following the waterway’s endless twists and turns just 6ft up, at 150mph. It was a joyous and brilliant thing to do. But unfortunately, if you tried that at home, skimming the Don in Sheffield, for instance, a man with adenoids and a clipboard would come round and take your licence away.
In fact, the whole process of learning to fly, it seems to me, is designed specifically to weed out those who might want a plane or a helicopter for fun.
When you want a driving licence, all you have to do is demonstrate to a man in beige trousers that you can reverse round a corner. But when you want a licence to fly, you must demonstrate to the entire Civil Aviation Authority that you are prepared to spend several months with your nose in various text books on meteorology and aerodynamics. Plainly, it only wants pedants up there.
Then you have to spend more months learning how to use a radio. Why? I know already. You just stab away at various buttons until someone comes over the speaker. Then you tell him what you want.
Oh no you don’t. You have to talk in a stupid code, saying “over” when you’ve finished speaking for the moment and “out” when you’ve finished altogether. Why? When I ring the plumber or the local Indian restaurant, I am able to convey the nature of my request perfectly well using English. So why when I’m in a plane do I have to talk in gibberish?
“Hello, it’s Jeremy. Is it all right to land?” is a much easier way of saying, “Weston Tower, this is Charlie Victor Tango on 8453.113 requesting a westerly approach to runway 27.”
But private pilots love all this sort of stuff. They love doing utterly pointless preflight checks, tapping dials and making sure that a bunch of goblins didn’t come in the night and chew through all the wires.
They never think: “I bought this plane to make my life more convenient but in the time I’ve spent checking it, I could have driven to Leeds.” And nor do they ever think: “If these checks are so foolproof, how come that in the western United States, more small planes fall out of the sky than rain drops.”
No really. In America, more than one person a day is killed in private plane crashes. Light aircraft, over there, are known as “dentist killers”.
And try this for size. You don’t have to check your plane if you leave it alone for a few hours in the day. But you do if it’s been left alone at night. Why? Do the plane goblins only come out when it’s dark? No. Will a comprehensive preflight check keep your plane in the air? No. The fact is that pilots love checking things. They love details.
I know this from glancing at the magazines they read. Boat magazines are full of boats skimming the waves with naked girls on the foredeck. But plane magazines are filled with lists of serial numbers and adverts for stuff that no one could conceivably ever want to buy. Quarter-scale cockpit models, for instance. And hideous pictures of Lancasters, at sunset, over Dresden.
Just last night, I spent some time in the company of two private plane enthusiasts who never once talked about the speed of their machines or the convenience, or the sheer, unbridled fun of skimming the treetops at 150mph. Instead, they talked for hours about parking and refuelling. I bet they think the best bit of sex is unwrapping the condom.
Certainly, they seem to have a weird love for the medical, which they must take every 15 minutes. I can’t see why this is necessary because medicals cannot predict a heart attack, which is about the only thing that will affect someone’s ability to fly a plane.
And you know what. Hardly anyone with a plane ever uses it to go somewhere useful. Instead, they take “the old kite” from their flying club headquarters to another flying club headquarters where they have some cheese and Branston pickle. And then they fly home again. What’s that all about?
And while they’re flying around, spoiling the peace and quiet for everyone on the ground, they are having absolutely no fun whatsoever. This is because they are at 3,000ft, where 100mph feels like you’re standing still. And they can’t come down low for fear of the man with adenoids.
So, the recipe for flying then. You drive to an airfield, check your plane for two hours, take off, sit still, speak gibberish into a radio, land, eat cheese and then sit still again till you’re home again. Repeat until one day you hear a loud bang . . .
STOLEN FROM TIMESONLINE
By Jeremy Clarkson
- Dates to diarise
- PPL Course Dates
- State of the Fleet (and Our new C150)
- ATC Flip Day, round 2
- Overberg Fly in
- End of Year Function
- Club Jackets
- Courses: ATP & COM Ground School; English Language Proficiency Ratings
- Incidents & Accidents
- Living dangerously - VFR flight into IMC
- Aviation News: Cessna's Jet Sales Taking Off
- Aviation Fun: Jeremy Clarkon on Flying
Dates to Diarize
- 12 October
Club Socal / Awards Evening (Details to follow) - 20 October
International Day of the Air Traffic Controller (ATC flip day round 2) - 26 October
Have You Seen my Parachute? Skydive Ceres presentation @ CTFC, 8pm - 9-11 November
TFDC Fly In, AFB Overberg (www.flyin.org.za) - 24 November
CTFC End of Year Function
PPL Course Dates
| Subject | Presented by | Date |
| Meteorology | Pierre Myburg | TBC |
| Navigation | Pieter Wesselman | 23/10/2007 |
| Radio | Chantal van Steijn (ATNS) | 24/10/2007 |
State of the Fleet
We'd like to welcome our newest addition, ZS-IDL, a Cessna 150 to our fleet. The plane has had a new engine put in, a new prop fitted and has been stripped down and re-painted. She also has a new interior, and will be ready for hire & fly and ab-initio training once the final paperwork has been completed. Watch this space.
- ZS-IDL (Cessna 150)
Awaiting paperwork. - ZS-KFV (Piper Tomahawk)
OK. Going for MPI on Monday 1 October, and should be back by Wednesday 3 October. - ZS-KKC (Piper Tomahawk)
OK. Recently returned from some repair work to the undercarriage. - ZS-KKU (Piper Tomahawk)
Grounded (cracked crank case). The engine has been removed and is in JHB being repaired. This should take about 3 weeks so the plane should be back in service in about 4 weeks time. Hold thumbs. - ZS-PIA (Piper Tomahawk)
OK. - ZS-KBK (Piper Warrior)
OK. New engine arriving in a few weeks, and then she will be down for a week while it is changed over. - ZS-JDN (Cessna Skyhawk)
OK. - ZS-PMY (Cessna Cutlass)
OK. - ZS-KSS (Cessna Cutlass)
OK.
With regards to the upgrading of our fleet, we are very interested in hearing from JOE PILOT as to what course we should be following. The questions are as follows:
- Do we stay with Certified planes or change over to Non Type Certified.
- Leading on from that is which planes do we use for either.
- The last questions how to finance the upgrade.
ATC flip day round 2
Saturday the 20th October is International Day of the Air Traffic Controller.
To celebrate this day, CTFC will be hosting an ATC flip day.
(If you recall, the last one was rained out earlier this year...the weather WILL be perfect this time!)
The idea is to take the controllers and assistants flying from 12-2, and then braai/party after.
If you can help in anyway, be it flying or braai-ing or anything in between, please let Gareth know. (email: garethpinnock@gmail.com)
As previously stated, there will be no minimum hour requirement for planes going to the TFDC Overberg Fly In (including the Tomahawks). Bookings will take place on a first come, first serve basis and the booking sheets for the event should be accessible on the 12th of October. For more information on the event please visit www.flyin.org.za.
End of year function
Beverley needs numbers for catering purposes for the year end function ASAP. The year end function is on the 24th November and we will be having a spit braai which is the best you will ever taste. Of course this does cost money and the club will be sponsoring a portion but tickets can be purchased at R50-00 per head.
Confirm you're coming either by phone (021 934 0257) or email (info@capetownflyingclub.co.za).
Prizes/sponsorships
Vossie needs our help with the donation of prizes and sponsorships towards the cost of the event. If you can help, or would like to be involved in the organising, drop Vossie an email on geminimotors@telkomsa.net.
Donated prizes so far:
- A cruise for two in Table Bay aboard the catamaran "IQ " Generously donated by David Barnes
- A weekend for 2 at Kagga Kamma Private Game Reserve including accommodation, breakfast and guided excursions (game drive, sundowner trip, bushman paintings tour, stargazing) (www.kaggakamma.co.za) Runways 900m/1400m hard gravel, elevation 3250 feet. Generously donated by Hein de Waal (General Manager: Kagga Kamma)
- A two night stay for two couples (or four people sharing two rooms) at the Zebra River Lodge in Namibia's Tsaris mountains. Includes full board (excluding drinks), a ground trip to Sossusvlei with a guide and a sundowner drive into the canyons of the Tsaris Mountains on the evening of arrival. Total value around R9500-00. (www.zebrariver.com) Runway 1150m x 20m hard gravel, elevation 4380 feet. Generously donated by Marianne & Rob Field (Zebra River Lodge)
- A YAK-52 flight from Fisantekraal. Generously donated by Dale Humby
Club Jackets
We are looking at introducing a club jacket. There is a sample hanging in reception, please have a look and give us some feedback or suggestions!
Courses & English Language Proficiency Rating
DEAL ALLIANCE will be offering the following courses at the Cape Town International airport at the Cape Town Flying Club premises:
- Commercial Pilot Course
From 8 October 2007 @ 0700 - 1300 - Airline Pilot Course
From 15 October 2007 @ 1730 - 2200
All SA pilots will need to do the Aviation English Language Proficiency Rating with their next licence renewal or by the 15 December unless they provide proof of English first or second language at Matric level. In this case they will automatically be given a Level 5 Rating which is renewable in 6 years time. If they do the Interview with a Test Centre, however and are rated as Level 6 speakers, they will not have to do a Rating ever again. Deal Alliance is the Approved Test Centre here in the Cape. The Interviews cost R700.00 and are held at Signature Flight Support.
December Courses
Deal Alliance will be offering an Initial CRM (2 days), or refresher (1 day) followed by "Dangerous Goods" (1 day). Then they will also be offering a general radio licence test and the language proficiency rating (See above). This will all take place in the week of the 10th December. From next year, this will be offered on a regular basis.
Further details on the Pilot Ground Schools for this year and on the Language Proficiency Ratings can be obtained from either Vanessa or Deborah on the following cell numbers:
Deborah 082 495 8179
Vanessa 076 745 2423
Incidents & Accidents
The importance of a thorough pre-flight
by Danny Buitendag
An Aeroperu Boeing 757 crashed into the ocean less than 30 minutes after taking off from Lima, Peru in 1996. Pieces of duct tape placed by maintenance personnel, were found covering sensors, causing the malfunction of instruments. The crew was not able to correctly determine their altitude and airspeed and with no ground reference over water and at night, crashed into the ocean. Although a maintenance worker was tried for negligent homicide for failing to remove the adhesive tape (he received 2 years in jail), who did the preflight?
How not to fly your Airbus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYfhC9ft_hk
This footage if from a recent airshow in Portugal. The Airbus A310's wingtip comes dangerously close to the ground during a very low altitude pass!
Lucky Escape
This man is Robert Robertson, a 34 year-old pilot who miraculously escaped a crash. His Beech 18 ran into trouble shortly after takeoff and came down on a highway in Florida, US. As the aircraft was ripped apart all around him, Mr Robertson managed to stay in one piece, with only a broken leg, arm and nose.
Living dangerously - VFR flight into IMC
by Gareth Pinnock
http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/flightassist.mp3
The above MP3 (approximately 3MB big) is a recording of the exchange between a pilot flying VFR and a controller. The pilot has entered IMC, and loses control of his aircraft. Skip the first minute of the recording to hear the actual exchange. There can be little doubt that this pilot understands the true meaning of terror.
The following piece by an unknown author illustrates what this pilot has just experienced.
Here's the fatal scenario. . . . . . .
The sky is overcast and the visibility is poor. That reported 8km visibility looks more like 3, and you can't judge the height of the overcast. Your altimeter tells you that you are at 1500 feet but your map tells you that there's local terrain as high as 1200 feet. There might be a tower nearby because you're not sure how far off course you are. But you've flown into worse weather than this, so you press on.
You unintentionally ease back just a bit on the controls to clear those towers. Without any warning, you're in the soup. You peer so hard into the milky white mist that your eyes hurt. You fight the feeling in your stomach. You try to swallow, only to find your mouth dry. Now you realize you should have waited for better weather. The appointment was important, but not all that important. Somewhere a voice is saying, "You've had it -- it's all over!"
You now have 178 seconds to live.
Your aircraft feels on even keel but your compass turns slowly. You push a little rudder and add a little pressure on the controls to stop the turn but this feels unnatural and you return the controls to their original position. This feels better but now your compass is turning a little faster and your airspeed is increasing slightly. You scan your instruments for help, but what you see looks somewhat unfamiliar. You're sure that this is just a bad spot. You'll break out in a few minutes. (Only problem is you don't have a few minutes left.)
You now have 100 seconds to live.
You glance at your altimeter and you are shocked to see it unwinding. You're already down to 1200 feet. Instinctively, you pull back on the controls but the altimeter still unwinds. The engine RPM gauge is in the red and the airspeed, nearly so.
You have 45 seconds to live.
Now you're sweating and shaking. There must be something wrong with the controls; pulling back only moves the airspeed indicator further into the red. You can hear the wind tearing at the aircraft. You are about to meet your Maker; you have 10 seconds to live. Suddenly you see the ground. The trees rush up at you. You can see the horizon if you turn your head far enough but it's at a weird angle -- you're almost inverted. You open your mouth to scream but. . . .
. . . .you just ran out of seconds.
Continuing into IMC conditions continues to claim lives. Remember, statistics show that accidents involving weather as a contributing factor have an 80% fatality rate.
Does it seem hard to believe that one tends to ignore the instruments in scenarios like this? We try to overcome a lifetime of listening to and trusting our bodies by doing a few hours (40 in the case of an instrument rated pilot) instrument training.
Our brain is the biggest culprit. Look at the picture below. Which shapes are moving?
Actually, none of them are moving. Our brain misinterprets what the eyes are telling us. The brain can also misinterpret other visual cues. Just think back to when you were last at a stop street and the car next to you started moving – for a few seconds you may have had the feeling that you were moving backwards. The ease with which the brain can be fooled gets VFR pilots killed in IMC. For some of the illusions, visit: http://www.rjma.com/flight/airwaves/in_flight_illusions.htm
The CAA regulations state that a pilot may not take off when the weather along his/her planned route is below the VFR minima, and yet many pilots still take off in the hope that things will improve. The disease called “get-home-itis” is in many cases fatal, and at best leads to breaking the law by “scud running” at low level, or at worst to your first and last acquaintance with the “graveyard spiral.”
And IMC at night?
It is interesting to note that the CAA wanted to make auto pilots compulsory for all VFR night flights back in 2003.
AIC 23-2 states:
The attention of all pilots is therefore again drawn to the fact that a take-off at night from certain aerodromes which are situated away from towns or cities or other surface light sources, may well be considered as an IFR take-off when no clearly discernible horizon is visible from the cockpit or flight deck. This may apply on a particularly dark, moonless night or on a night with overcast sky and it may also apply only in certain directions of take-off.
And read in conjunction with AIC 40-4:
The Civil Aviation Regulations do not forbid VFR flight by night, however, irrespective of the weather, ATC’s should encourage all flights capable of operating under the IFR and intending to operate in any controlled or advisory airspace, except flights which do not intend leaving the aerodrome traffic circuit, to operate under the IFR.
The proposal for autopilots was scrapped, thanks to the tireless work of SAPFA(South African Powered Flight Association):
(http://www.sapfa.org.za/pdf_files/SAPFApart91.pdf)
We understand that there have been a number of fatal accidents at night but our information is that these tend to be in the take off or landing stages of the flight when the auto pilot will be disconnected. There have also been instances of controlled flight into terrain. In these instances it appears that the accidents were due to misidentification of terrain as airspace and once again access to an auto pilot would not have prevented an accident.
Looking at the CAA's original proposal, and reading the two AICs, the message from the CAA is clear: the challenges facing a VFR only pilot do not only occur in bad weather.
We owe it to our family and passengers to be aware of the challenges, as well as having the capability to face those challenges when they arise. It is up to the PIC to ensure that he/she has had adequate training recently enough – not necessarily by the legal definition only, but rather by your own definition of what you think makes a safe, current and capable pilot.
Aviation News: Cessna's Jet Sales Taking Off
The head of Textron Inc.'s Cessna Aircraft Co. said the airplane manufacturer's backlog stands at $11 billion - the most in eight decades of operation - as business jet orders and deliveries continue to grow.
Jack J. Pelton, chairman, president and CEO of Cessna said in a statement the company had orders for 2,700 units on its books as of Aug. 31. Half of those are Citation-model business jets.
So far this year, Cessna has secured orders for 525 business jets, compared with 496 during all 12 months last year, the company said.
Speaking at an industry conference, Pelton said Cessna plans to deliver 380 business jets this year, up from 307 last year. The company plans to deliver 470 in 2008, he said.
"This extraordinary rate of growth is being driven by strong economies and corporate profits and a rapidly emerging global marketplace," he said. "Clearly, our strategy of having the broadest, most comprehensive product line in the industry is serving us well."
Aviation Fun: Jeremy Clarkson on Flying
STOLEN FROM TIMESONLINE
Last weekend, a friend of mine was killed when his helicopter crashed in Scotland. And then, just hours later, another friend was lucky to walk away when his chopper flipped onto its side while making an emergency landing in Essex.
Strangely, however, it’s not a fear of dying that puts me off the idea of private aviation. It’s the surefire knowledge that nothing in all the world is likely to be quite so boring and pointless.
The idea of piloting your own helicopter or light aircraft, among the clouds and the linnets, far above the jams and the pressure, is an appealing prospect for anyone who doesn’t know what to do with his money.
Better still, you might imagine that you could enliven your journey by swooping underneath low bridges, divebombing fields of cattle, looping the loop over friends’ houses and landing for the hell of it in beauty spots and bird sanctuaries.
Only last month, I flew down the Okavango River in Botswana in a twin-engined light aircraft; following the waterway’s endless twists and turns just 6ft up, at 150mph. It was a joyous and brilliant thing to do. But unfortunately, if you tried that at home, skimming the Don in Sheffield, for instance, a man with adenoids and a clipboard would come round and take your licence away.
In fact, the whole process of learning to fly, it seems to me, is designed specifically to weed out those who might want a plane or a helicopter for fun.
When you want a driving licence, all you have to do is demonstrate to a man in beige trousers that you can reverse round a corner. But when you want a licence to fly, you must demonstrate to the entire Civil Aviation Authority that you are prepared to spend several months with your nose in various text books on meteorology and aerodynamics. Plainly, it only wants pedants up there.
Then you have to spend more months learning how to use a radio. Why? I know already. You just stab away at various buttons until someone comes over the speaker. Then you tell him what you want.
Oh no you don’t. You have to talk in a stupid code, saying “over” when you’ve finished speaking for the moment and “out” when you’ve finished altogether. Why? When I ring the plumber or the local Indian restaurant, I am able to convey the nature of my request perfectly well using English. So why when I’m in a plane do I have to talk in gibberish?
“Hello, it’s Jeremy. Is it all right to land?” is a much easier way of saying, “Weston Tower, this is Charlie Victor Tango on 8453.113 requesting a westerly approach to runway 27.”
But private pilots love all this sort of stuff. They love doing utterly pointless preflight checks, tapping dials and making sure that a bunch of goblins didn’t come in the night and chew through all the wires.
They never think: “I bought this plane to make my life more convenient but in the time I’ve spent checking it, I could have driven to Leeds.” And nor do they ever think: “If these checks are so foolproof, how come that in the western United States, more small planes fall out of the sky than rain drops.”
No really. In America, more than one person a day is killed in private plane crashes. Light aircraft, over there, are known as “dentist killers”.
And try this for size. You don’t have to check your plane if you leave it alone for a few hours in the day. But you do if it’s been left alone at night. Why? Do the plane goblins only come out when it’s dark? No. Will a comprehensive preflight check keep your plane in the air? No. The fact is that pilots love checking things. They love details.
I know this from glancing at the magazines they read. Boat magazines are full of boats skimming the waves with naked girls on the foredeck. But plane magazines are filled with lists of serial numbers and adverts for stuff that no one could conceivably ever want to buy. Quarter-scale cockpit models, for instance. And hideous pictures of Lancasters, at sunset, over Dresden.
Just last night, I spent some time in the company of two private plane enthusiasts who never once talked about the speed of their machines or the convenience, or the sheer, unbridled fun of skimming the treetops at 150mph. Instead, they talked for hours about parking and refuelling. I bet they think the best bit of sex is unwrapping the condom.
Certainly, they seem to have a weird love for the medical, which they must take every 15 minutes. I can’t see why this is necessary because medicals cannot predict a heart attack, which is about the only thing that will affect someone’s ability to fly a plane.
And you know what. Hardly anyone with a plane ever uses it to go somewhere useful. Instead, they take “the old kite” from their flying club headquarters to another flying club headquarters where they have some cheese and Branston pickle. And then they fly home again. What’s that all about?
And while they’re flying around, spoiling the peace and quiet for everyone on the ground, they are having absolutely no fun whatsoever. This is because they are at 3,000ft, where 100mph feels like you’re standing still. And they can’t come down low for fear of the man with adenoids.
So, the recipe for flying then. You drive to an airfield, check your plane for two hours, take off, sit still, speak gibberish into a radio, land, eat cheese and then sit still again till you’re home again. Repeat until one day you hear a loud bang . . .
STOLEN FROM TIMESONLINE
By Jeremy Clarkson
posted by Cape Town Flying Club at 4:00 AM
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