proptalk

North Shore Aero ClubNorth Shore Aero Club

July 2013

Training services North Shore Aero Club is more than just a club. We are a leading flight training organization catering for training of private pilots and commercial pilots, and issuing a range of ratings includ-ing; multi engine rating, instrument rating, aerobatic rating, night rating, aircraft type ratings and conversions. We also handle foreign pilot license validations and provide a range of ground courses for licenses and ratings.

Want to learn to fly? If you’re considering flight training, North Shore Aero Club in Auckland, is the perfect place to start. Students receive top level training as well as help and encouragement from staff and other members alike. There are many and frequent social occassions and club trips to exciting desti-nations. If you like the idea of flying your partner, family or friends to an exciting destination like Pauanui, Raglan or Great Barrier Island for lunch, then this is the place to start. Book a trial flight now. PPL theory block courses Block courses are available at North Shore for both Aeroplane and Helicopter PPL theory. You can find more information on our website. A career in aviation If you’re considering a career in aviation, you will be following in the footsteps of many very suc-cessful and experienced commercial pilots who have trained at North Shore Aero Club. Our club North Shore Aero Club owns and operates the North Shore Airfield from which our operations are based. North Shore Airfield is in the Hibiscus Coast district, twenty minutes north of the Auckland CBD. We have excellent facilities for training. We run regular club competitions and

North Shore Aero Club

HOURS OF OPERATIONThe club is open for flying 7 days per week from 8.00am until dark

and after dark for night flying on request.Office hours are 8.00am to 5.00pm.

We are closed on Christmas day and New Year’s Day only.The bar is open from 5.00pm Thursday through to Sunday.

July 2013PROP TALK

“PROPTALK” magazine Is published bi-monthly by NSAC. Circulation appr. 530.Advertising rates:Quarter page $20.00 +GST/ issue, Half page: $35.00 +GST/ issue, Full Page: $65.00 + GST/ issue

EDITOR: Rudolf Struyck DESIGN: Rudolf Struyck, COVER DESIGN: Rudolf StruyckCOVER PHOTOGRAPHY: Steve Bicknell - GOPIX , www.gopix.co.nz

Neither the editor or the North Shore Aeroclub are responsible for opinions expressed by contributors to “Proptalk” magazine.

Postman Road, RD4, Albany Phone 09 426 4273 Fax 09 426 5912

Patron John Verleun 09 479 7555President Joe Smith 0272 525 216Vice President David Saunders 09 638 7784Treasurer Margaret Smith 09 445 6486Secretary Ian Couper 09 478 6351Club Captain Michael Bach 021 650 592Committee John Eaton 09 420 3331

John Punshon 09 426 4273Candice Gillett 09 426 4273Roy Crane 0274 896 988Robert van Heiningen 0274 831 439

CFI Daryl Gillett 09 426 4273Instructors (full time) John Punshon Shaun EverestB-Cat Instructors (part time) Allan Roberts Dawson Boles

Alistair Blake Candice GillettJudith Grant Stan SmithTim Marshall

C-Cat Instructors (part time) Michael Bach Tom HowittGlenn Ross Eric BlackwellTae Kim

NS Helicopter Instructors Roy Crane Ed SellarRiaan van Wyk

Flight Office Staff Lynn PackerWeekends Rebecca Blackwood (Sat.) Monica Winters (Sun.)Safety Coordinator Tim MaynardBar Staff Brian Clay Angela McLaggan

Groundsman Caleb Hanham

Dary l G i l l e t t you r CF I

Well into winter now and the good ole weather this time of year has been up and down a bit, although over this last week it has been brilliant – good to see many members out here making good use of it.

CAA AVKIWI Seminar – Get the Mental Picture!

Well over 100 pilots turned up for the AVKIWI Seminar “Get the Mental Picture”, which was held in May.

Mental Picture? As I explained in my last article, it is the picture of your surroundings that you build in your mind – through Situational Awareness. Remember all pilots have skills he or she can exploit to achieve and maintain a high level of situational awareness at all times – and at the seminar those who attended learnt some great ways to help us strive to achieve a higher level of Situational Awareness.

It was good to see many pilots attend. The mere fact that those attended took the time to be here is a good indication of their attitude towards aviation and becoming better pilots, and that they have at least some of “Right Stuff”!

Winter

I remember when I was learning to fly (admittedly not that long ago compared to some of you!), and during the winter months looking forward to those pristine winter mornings with much anticipation. Not a cloud in the sky, no wind, a light dusting of frost on fields surrounding the aerodrome, and, at that time with no hangar maybe a little Hoare frost on the upper surface of the aeroplanes as well. Colder than Christchurch, or so it felt to a northerner, the air was perfectly smooth, and dense too – so the trusty Cessna 152 performed a little better than normal.

The funny thing is those days don’t seem to

pop up very often anymore. Maybe it’s just my imagination, or maybe it’s the dreaded global warming at play – aye Al Gore? I tend to think the prior is more likely…

To the point – with winter there comes hazards uniquely associated with it. But, on the other hand there can be advantages during the colder months too. I have already mentioned a few…

Looking at the hazards first, and as mentioned frost is certainly one – make sure no ice is present on your aircraft before you fly. If there is, remove it. The best way to do this is with a plastic scrapper. The weather – it can be far less stable than in summer. Depressions often dominate, and fronts are likely to be associated with them. Wind will typically be stronger as well, and therefore a greater potential for increased levels of turbulence. Fog of course is more likely in winter, especially on clear nights with light wind. Night flying or even early morning flights may be affected – the temperature to dew point split will indicate the likelihood of fog formation. It is imperative that the weather reports and forecasts are carefully studied during the pre-flight planning of your flights.

As a result of the winter weather (enhanced by the fact that NZNE was built on a swamp) the grass areas transform back into their original state. Not good for aircraft types which prefer the grass, or the unwary pilot who daringly tests its integrity when closed. KEEP OFF THE GRASS – avoid it unless absolutely necessary in the interests of safety.

The advantages? Again as mentioned previously, the colder the temperature, the more dense air is. Denser air will increase the power output of an engine, and in aerodynamic terms an aeroplane will generate more lift and more thrust – increasing its efficiency. Both will lead to an overall performance increase i.e. shorter takeoff distance and better rate of climb.

When fine weather prevails during winter, the air will generally be much smoother – due to the lack of ‘thermals’ because the ground is not heated to the same extent.

The “Green House” effect is reduced in winter too. No, not the one that causes climate change – the one that causes Robin pilots much pain and suffering during summer time. You all know what I mean! It certainly is much more comfortable in an aeroplane with a Perspex canopy in winter – another advantage!

No matter what season it is, always have a think about the relevant hazards and threats. Take your time, plan well, and make conservative and decisive decisions.

South Island Trip 2013

It’s getting close – the annual club South Island Trip is scheduled to depart on Saturday 31st August, so make sure you have an aeroplane booked and an instructor if you need one.

The trip provides supervised conditions which cater for all experience levels – see Tim Marshall at the club to find out more about the trip. Tim will also be presenting a basic mountain flying seminar before the trip for those coming along.

New Twin!!!

Many of you will know that the club has recently purchased a Beechcraft BE-76 Duchess twin-engine aircraft.

A fundamental reason why the club purchased a twin was to solidify our place in the professional

flight training market in NZ. Having the facility to provide multi-engine training is a driving force behind the decision of where future pilots choose to embark on their career in aviation. For many years the club has relied upon the generosity of its members; members who have at various times placed multi-engine aircraft online at the club. Now I am proud to say that the NSAC can stand on its own two feet, and provide this service un-interrupted – consistently into the future.

The Duchess (registration CGW), is a mighty fine example of a twin-engine trainer. It was completely refurbished 7 years ago – re-skinned, parts replaced, engines zero-timed, repainted, and outfitted with a completely new instrument panel. Those who have seen it will agree that it truly is in immaculate condition. When Russell from Flightline inspected the aircraft before purchase he said “I would eat my lunch from the gear bays!” It’s that good.

As mentioned, the instrument panel was completely replaced, and outfitted with some very slick equipment including a Garmin 430 IFR GPS, HSI, RMI, ICARUS airspeed and altitude alerter, and an S-Tec 65 Autopilot which drives a Flight Director associated with the AH. The aircraft is absolutely beautiful inside, and not one thing is broken!

The aeroplane is a pleasure to fly, and still feels ‘tight’ like its brand new! The Duchess is a great initial multi-engine training platform and is a forgiving way to learn the intricacies of multi-engine aviation.

So – have you ever considered or even dreamt about achieving a multi-engine rating, or

instrument rating? Well, now you have the opportunity to fly a tidy, well-equipped twin at a very good rate.

If you have any questions at all about multi-engine or instrument rating training, please give me a call, or pop up to the club for a chat.

Daryl

Joe Smi th c l ub p res iden t

First of all many thanks to those of you that attended the AGM there were approximately 70 attendees.

The meeting itself was I think conducted by us all as fellow members and that’s how it should be. There were very few contentious issues and those were discussed amicably in the main, dare I hope there is a positive wind of change rustling through our branches.

The Treasurers report again indicated the continued healthy state of financial affairs. There are many projects that need to be accomplished to ensure the continual growth of the club and bring ever more benefits to us all as members. To name a few the runway lighting is in need of a complete overhaul and the time taken to address this issue is that there is potentially a huge expenditure to be made. Given that a great deal of research has and is on-going the committee is loath to make a hasty decision at this stage. There is also the crosswind runway that could do with considerable expenditure. Also the road leading to the mainly commercial Northern end of the field in in a state of disrepair and needs a complete overhaul. I am told the road was laid by some dedicated volunteer’s many moons ago. These 3 items are collectively likely to cost a considerable amount of funds.

At the AGM the committee stated the members would know the outcome of the Airshow Liquidation, it is as follows.The NSAC’s claim was accepted by the Liquidator in the sum of $41,343.00, a distribution of 18 cents in the dollar amounts to $7,743.96. The club therefore just about broke even on the event.

The new committee is as you all know without Trevor Dance and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Trevor for his unstinting devotion to the tasks he undertook with such enthusiasm. We will of course miss his input. Trevor and I have had our jousts over the years as I believe have others but his work ethic is going to be hard to follow. Let us all get behind

both Roy Crane and Robert van Heiningen in their pursuit to ensure NSAC has a presence in the market place.

David Sunders attended the RNZAC conference on Saturday 13th July to solicit ideas to kick start our Young Eagles programme he was impressed with the camaraderie he encountered from other clubs. He actually admitted he quite enjoyed the conference. Daryl and I attended the AGM on Friday 12th and also the Instructors meeting. The NSAC has applied to host the Air Safari lunch stopover when the jamboree gets started in 2016 which is close to Easter of that year. We also put forward the club to hold the Regional Competitions in November 2015 in November.

We recently held a meeting of Hangar owners on the field to assist the committee in its deliberations on how, if ever, to apportion Auckland City Council Rates. 23 people attended which is hardly enough to get a clear consensus therefore another meeting will be held to discuss the issue in early September. It is paramount to remember that the rates are unlikely to be an issue in the immediate future. The club has traditionally absorbed the rates and there is no plan to alter that at this stage.

The committee would like submissions for a Student Loan Scheme the idea is to encourage NSAC Pilot members to apply for a loan to complete a particular training course. The 1st trial is for a pilot member that has obtained a CPL who wishes to advance their career to a “C Cat” instructor. Please send your request to office@nsac.co.nz.The Club will be celebrate 50 years of its founding in September this year please contact the office and suggest the names of as many members that do not retain their membership for one reason or another that should be invited to attend. A brief history of each would be a great help. As I have said in the past we all owe a great deal to those pioneer’s, lest we forget.

Thanks

Joe

Here Comes Summer !Well, well, well. Time marches on doesn’t it ! No sooner does the “Old Log Burner” get pressed into action in early May, than it’s time to start thinking about getting ready for sum-mer again.

We’ve had lambs in the fields around here since the first week of June, and the daffodils are blooming all over the place. Within six weeks we’ll have the willow trees in leaf and then it’s full-on summer again !

So over the next couple of weeks – when it’s generally coldest and wettest – I’m going to be getting the boat ready for summer and planning a few trips. With regard to flying – it’s probably a good idea to get all the flying apparatus out and have a good review of the important bits and pieces. For example, making sure the old “Whizz Wheel” hasn’t seized up through lack of use, and making sure all the documentation is up to date and nothing has been forgotten.

So – this month I’m going to have a quick run through of some of the things that may need to be reviewed before getting stuck into the sum-mer flying programme.

So – to business ……..

AIP Volume 1 and Volume 4 - Update and Review

This can be a bit of a monster project, particu-larly if you don’t keep up with the up-dates ! I know someone who had been off flying for a while, and they had 18 months worth to do – Volume 1, 2, 3 and 4 ! Took most of the day I heard ! Anyway, the update cycle is basically two

monthly and if you’ve got Volume 4 and Volume 1 to do then it can take an hour or so to make sure that the whole series is up to date. Of course there are also the AIP Supplements (Per-manent and Boxed Items) and the Aeronautical Information Circular to consider too. Make sure you know what version is current and what is in them.

The system used by Aeronauti-cal Information is great – the cycle for updates is published in Vector and On-line – so there is really no reason to get behind. Besides, if you have a computer and a printer and are connected to the Internet, then you can always down-load individual pages if you have in-advertently “binned” the wrong pages !

Just some advice – if you have a copy of Volume 1 (which I would recommend) and Volume 4 – it’s very easy to not actually take on board the changes that have been made. Same applies to the AIP Supplements. So, on

one of those cold dark evenings when the “Mis-sus” is out doing Pilates (whoever he is), pour yourself a large whisky and have a read through the relevant sections – it’s amazing what you will have forgotten – particularly things like Weather Decodes (Vol 1-Gen 3.5), Abbrevia-tions (Vol 1-Gen 2.2) and the Aerodrome Chart Legends in Volume 4 – that do change periodi-cally. There are also the “Pink Pages” that sum-marise the main changes.

Just one other thing – with the AIP Supplement, when you get a new one, don’t just file it ! Have a read through it and then you won’t get caught out by blundering into Matamata’s Tem-porary CTR(D) when the Walsh Training School is operating in January/February. VNC/VPC Charts and Legends - Airspace Types and Limitations

Old Bill’s “Safety First” ArticleSafety Tips based on the Fact That: There really are No New Accidents

When was the last time you had a good look at the chart legend ? For most people it was prob-ably just before the PPL or CPL Navigation Exam and we won’t have had a good look since.

Symbols on the chart are really important – Glider Winch Sites; Airspace Boundaries, Types and Limitation; Cables; Masts – etc. etc. are easily forgotten. The last thing you want to be trying to do is unfolding the chart while airborne to make sense of some faint grey boundary around an airfield ! So what does that one mean – there’s one round North Shore Airfield !

And one other thing – Rules of Thumb - Dis-tances and Tracks on Charts. It’s all very well getting the old rule or protractor out in the Planning Room – but when you are airborne – the “Old Finger and Thumb Trick” works a treat:

• On the 1:250,000 Charts – One Thumb Knuckle Length is 5 Nautical Miles; Distance be-tween the Index Finger and Little Pinky – (you know the “Old Mongrel Member Gang Salute”) – that’s 10 Nautical Miles. In terms of flying time – well at 90kts that’s 3 minutes and 6 minutes respectively. At 120kts – 2 and 1/2 minutes and 5 minutes. Easy eh !• On the 1:500,000 Charts – well it’s double the distance in Nautical Miles – and don’t forget – you can always use the Latitude Scale if you forget – 1 Minute of Latitude is 1 Nautical Mile.

And with regard to compass headings and tracks – the Mark 1 Eyeball and a pencil line on the map – not forgetting Variation – works a treat – you can always refine it when you are on track. Who needs a GPS or Smart Pad ! Met and NOTAM Decodes

Remember – flying in crappy weather can kill you ! So make damn sure that you know how to interpret and decode the weather. Also, don’t neglect the SIGMET’s and NOTAM’s !

I always start with the Synoptic. Then hook into Met-Flight Briefing – ARFOR’s; TAF’s; ME-TAR’s and of course I have a bloody good look out of the window. Also – don’t be shy about ringing the airfield or local Flying Club at your destination for a BWR. But remember: it is your decision – so if you don’t like the sug-gestion by the “Bod” on the end of the phone who comes up with: “Oh yeh – the cloud base is about 400ft – but there’s a clear area to the

south and you can come in via the river valley” – GO SOMEWHERE ELSE; STAY AT HOME; or GO TO THE PUB !

The CAA are also really keen that we should be able to decode reports accurately – but when you don’t fly regularly, it’s easy to forget what (PL) means or (FU) or (BR) – so they make it easy for us ! Grab yourself a CAA Met Abbre-viations Card and stick it into the front of your Vol 4 or Vol 1. And don’t be shy about using it ! They, along with all the other CAA Good Avia-tion Practice (GAP) Booklets, are in the Planning Area – so grab yourself a handful next time you are at the Club.

One other thing to remember though – the information in Met Flight and the Met Abbre-viations only apply to airspace below 10,000ft – so you won’t find CI (Cirrus) in the decodes and it won’t tell you what the wind speed is at 14,000ft if you are planning to “Mix it” with the Big Boys ! Radio Phraseology

I have probably written more missives about “Crappy Radio Calls” than anything else. The correct terminology is essential and it is pro-vided by CAA in Advisory Circular 91-9 and 172-1. I would really advocate that all pilots periodically review it and comply with it. Hope-fully however, one day, the CAA will develop a rating that requires pilot’s to pass an oral test – you know being required to sit in a “simulator” with a qualified ATC Operative on the other end of “The Blower”, who will test the pilot on the basic requirements. Anyway – don’t get caught out or let the side down with “Rubbishy Radio Calls”. Make sure you sound like a proper pilot ! Aircraft Flight Manual, Perform-ance and Weight and Balance

One other thing you can do before summer arrives is have a review of the Aircraft Flight Manual (AFM) for the aircraft you are flying and make sure that you can routinely work out Take-Off and Landing Performance and also Weight and Balance Data. It’s also impor-tant to make sure that you know the aircraft’s limitations and can, for example, quote aircraft design speeds, such as Vs0; Vs1; Vfe; Vno; Va;and Vne…..and off course know what they mean. Also – have a review of things like Max Take-off Weights for various categories (Normal or Utility) and things like baggage weights.

Again, if you are bit vague on performance and weight and balance calculations – grab a copy of CAA’s GAP Booklets on Take-off and Landing Performance and Weight and Balance and work through the examples.

Next Year’s Flying Programme – Other Information

And finally, I always found that as a PPL I did different sorts of flying each year. So, make a plan – maybe do a new type rating or an Aero-batics Rating; or a good long trip down to the South Island – or even round the North Island. The list is endless – but don’t let your flying skills diminish because you are doing the same type of flying all the time. Expand the Enve-lope, Keep Learning and Remain Current – both in terms of Flying Skills and General Aviation/Aeronautical Knowledge.

End Piece

OK – so that’s the major things I can think of that you should have a look at before you get stuck into the summer flying again. But remember, when you fly you should be trying to stay sufficiently current – with all the relevant information, as well as your flying skills - so that you could do your Biennial Flying Review without having to do any swotting or revision what-so-ever. That is where you should aim to be at ! Think about it…….

OK, that’s it for this month - fly safely and look after yourselves – and keep the feed-back flooding in. And remember “Old Bill” is always watching, listening and looking out for you …………..

Oh, and just one last thought, have you done that Forced Landing Without Power revision ses-sion yet ?

“Old Bill”e-mail address – theoldbill@outlook.co.nz

Twin Engine AircraftThe Club has been fortunate for the last few years in that Richard Milne has allowed the Club to hire his Cougar CGR for multi engine flight training and multi engine instrument training. MEIR is the precursor of the “road to the Airlines” which many of our members have travelled. Like all good things they come to an end and CGR now needs 2 replacement engines. This is at considerable cost to the Owner who has now put the aircraft up for sale. The Committee has decided to purchase our own twin engine Beech Duchess ME76. Flight Line Aviation have sent their North Shore Manager to inspect the aircraft from an engineer’s perspec-tive. Their report shows the aircraft is in excellent order.Daryl and John tested the aircraft exhaustively in Australia and then once the negotiations were complete, John and Michael delivered the aircraft (see “Ferry Flight” report in this issue) Now that we have the aircraft in NZ we have students awaiting the final CAA sign off of CGW to commence their training. It is important that we have suitable aircraft available at all times. With this purchase we can comfortably join with our members and students in a reliable ongoing service.

We set off for the airport in luxury... John’s Dad’s Rolls Royce… and after breakfast at the Koru Club headed to the gate. Not long after we were boarded and on our way to Sydney. About half way across the Tasman I was aware that we had turned south so dialed up the In Flight On Route display to find we had indeed turned. We tried to think of any good reason to do so when the captain announced on the PA that we were heading back to Auckland. Apparently Sydney was fogged in and we didn’t have the prerequisite 90 minutes of Hold time fuel on board. Gee thanks Air NZ!

So after another 5 or so hours on the ground we headed off again, landing in Sydney at about 1730 which was well after the various facilities at Bankstown had closed so headed into town for the night. One whole day lost…grrrr!

Wednesday morning dawned and from the 17th floor of the Hotel we couldn’t see the ground. More fog. None the less we headed off to Bank-stown to check out the aircraft and arrange the last few requirements hoping to at least get to Coffs Harbour late that afternoon. It soon became apparent that this simply wasn’t going to happen. The engineers still had cowls off and were waiting for a carb gasket. And the avionics guy who was going to install the HF radio was somewhere far away from Sydney.

After lunch the engineers finally released the aircraft to us so John taxied around to Dwayne’s hangar to arrange the HF install. And yep…no sign of the avionics guy. Typical Aviation…hurry up and wait!

Some hours later after a couple of other failed attempts a suitable guy showed up (although his English wasn’t so crash hot)and we installed the HF antenna, the power convertor and the radio itself. By now it was far too late to head to Coffs so we decided to do a test flight South West of Bankstown…a systems check ride. By now it was dark so after some careful study-ing of plates, maps and procedures we headed off. Fortunately everything seemed to work and after an uneventful flight put the Duchess back in the hangar for the night aiming to leave early the next day.

The morning dawned to yet more Fog. The lo-cals told us it was absolutely unheard of to have 3 consecutive days of fog…yet we managed to be there when it happened. Another morning lost!

The plan had been to get to Norfolk Island for the night so the last leg to Auckland would be entirely in daylight…but that wasn’t go-ing to work. We decided to do a run to Coffs as planned to ensure that the fuel usage was as per the manual and that all of the systems functioned properly. Coffs is also considerably closer to Lord Howe Island, which would now

Ferry FlightFirst hand report of the Beech Duchess BE76 VH-CGW ferry flight from Banks-town in Sydney to North Shore

Passing Newcastle heading North

be our overnight stop, and negated the need to transit some military airspace east of Port Macquarie.

John had planned to do the whole trip IFR…and a good thing he did too! The BE-76 has its best fuel performance/TAS at 7000ft and there were some worrying CBs developing on the coast. At about 1030 we finally got airborne out of YSBK and headed north. The track took us west of Sydney over the military base at Richmond and then North to Port Macquarie through the Williamtown Military airspace near Newcastle. Sure enough as we approached Port Macquarie we were in IMC condi-tions. About half an hour later we started the approach into Coffs. The conditions were deteriorating so it was important to get on the ground refueled and gone again before it got much worse. The approach went much as planned and we got visual in pouring rain at about 800ft. After landing and a very long taxi to the GA section of the airfield we refueled and got our weather information from the locals.

Now some of you will know that John is not the most time conscious of people. His laid back style and mannerisms are a direct result of his relaxed attitude which bodes well for his students. One of John’s more obvious weak-nesses is his understanding of time zones. He left his watch on UTC the whole trip, which was a good thing most of the time, especially when

entering flight plans on the iPad. However what he hadn’t spotted was the fact that Lord Howe, being some 355nm to the east of Coffs was half an hour AHEAD of eastern Aus-tralia and that we really had to be there before dark because there were NO LIGHTS!!! John phoned Clive who is the local contact at Lord Howe from the ground at Coffs and Clive’s first question was “why the hell are you guys still on the ground?” A quick calculation showed that we really needed to “boogie” or we wouldn’t get there by Lord Howe ECT!

We lined up and departed Coffs Harbour as quickly as

possible and climbed into the cloud. This was possibly the worst weather we encountered on the whole trip. Rain, and strong turbulence buffeted us around for about 15 minutes until we finally cleared the weather into searing blue skies with just fair weather cumulous far below us.

The GPS said we would reach YSLH approx. 15 minutes before ECT and we had sufficient range

to return to Coffs should the need arise. Then it stopped working!!! Lost satellite coverage…which was strange because my reliable little Garmin 296 on its standard antenna mounted on the yoke was working fine. Good thing the flight plan was loaded into both eh? After recy-cling the power to the 430 it “found itself” again so we continued onto Lord Howe without further incident.

Now where is the avionics guy...

Sent back halfway across

A couple of hundred miles out we were asked to switch to the HF radio and were told that our transmissions were readable but “scratchy”. At this stage it didn’t really matter because the VHF coverage was good and there was a VHF repeater on Lord Howe Island anyway. This would become a bigger issue the next day but more on that soon!

We commenced the approach into Lord Howe Island in IMC and spoke to Clive on the VHF who gave us the current conditions etc. We descended thru the cloud and suddenly the island appeared in front of us. Nice to know the systems work! For those of you who haven’t been there, Lord Howe is consider-ably smaller than our own Kawau Island and there is no other land closer than the Australian eastern coast line so one can only imagine how difficult the pioneers of Trans Tasman flights found finding Lord Howe was! We approached over the lagoon and landed towards the east with at least 10 – 15 minutes before ECT…phew!

After parking the “ever so helpful” Clive collected us and took us to our accommodation arranging to collect us at 0645 (local time

John!) the next morning.

Friday dawned to what looked like a beautiful day although the easterly wind had risen slight-ly. We would have around 15 knots on the nose across to Norfolk Island so some serious time was spent checking and rechecking PNR (point of no return) calculations. This would be the first and only time on the trip that we had no options other than our takeoff and landing air-fields. Norfolk Island is bigger than Lord Howe but still smaller than our own Waiheke Island so accurate Navigation is still very important. After refueling and clearing customs we were on our way once again with the aim of getting to Auck-land Airport before dark. With some 1072nm to cover and the rotation of the earth against us it was going to be tight.

Approx 200 miles into the leg Brisbane Centre asked us to switch to the HF radio. John at-tempted to reply but the HF radio “shut down” every time he attempted to transmit. After a little investigation it became obvious that the cable linking the radio to the antenna matching unit was faulty and that the radio was attempt-ing to transmit into an open circuit. Hmmm… What to do? I remembered that in the kit there was a spare cable but it wouldn’t be very easy to change given that the antenna matching unit was behind the bulkhead at the rear of the lug-gage area. John’s a bit taller than I am so we decided his better reach would be an advan-tage. In one of the rear seats was the liferaft and immersion suits so John climbed into the other seat and proceeded to move the contents of the luggage area into the rear of the cock-pit. Eventually he was able to unclip the rear

Just in case there is no food tomorrow!

On the ground at Coffs

bulkhead panel and access the cable connec-tion. After much effort he was able to discon-nect the faulty cable, replace it with another shorter one, replace the bulkhead panel and shift the baggage etc back to where it needed to be. Meanwhile I was watching intently as we approached some more threatening cloud. John strapped himself back into his seat with only a few seconds to spare as we entered IMC again and banged our heads on the ceiling! After things settled back down again I reconnected the radio and John attempted to contact Bris-bane Centre again. Bingo! Fixed! “Readability 5” said Brisbane!!

Another issue we had was the temperature. At 7,000 ft it wasn’t exactly tropical. Due to being on the limits for fuel endurance we had decided not to even attempt to use the heater in the aircraft. It uses fuel at some 3 litres an hour and so over a flight of 4 hours to Norfolk and nearly 5 to Auckland it wasn’t really a good idea to use any more fuel than neces-sary. We both had piled on extra layers but it was impossible to maintain any temperature in our feet…particularly when sitting static for so many hours.

Our PNR was at 314nm from YLHI. As we approached that point John contacted Norfolk for a weather update. It was blowing 19 gusting 28 but it was down the runway pretty much

and the rain squalls were few and far between so we decided to proceed.

Sure enough around an hour lat-er Norfolk Island appeared in the windshield right where it should be on the RNAV approach. It was a bit rough but no real problem so we landed and taxied to the pumps. I refueled the aircraft while John got another weather briefing from the locals and filed our last flight plan.

We were on our way as soon as possible just having to wait for an Air NZ A320 to backtrack the runway to the terminal. It was quite odd to have such an air-craft taxiing directly towards us.

We got airborne, engaged the autopilot, turned the bug 10 degrees to the south and we were on our way home. In order to arrive at AA with the right amount of fuel still on board we need-ed to average a minimum of 133kts Ground Speed. To start with this didn’t look so good but the further south we got the less headwind encountered so in the end would comfortably make AA without breaking the rules…nice!

About 3 hours later, first the Three Kings Islands and then New Zealand’s Cape Reinga, appeared in the windshield. The IFR track took us overhead Kaitia then down to Auckland via the UKAPA and KYPRA IFR intersections. I sent Daryl and Joe an email advising our arrival time and the fact that we would need fuel at NZAA. It would seem however that we had missed a

We flew through that crap leaving Australia

Lord Howe appears in the murk

step in the planning stages and that Custom’s were not actually expecting us. Joe did some fast talking on the phone and it was arranged that we would clear customs at the Air Centre One facility at AA…although they were none too pleased about it!

We were still at 6000ft when we flew past NZNE at 1800 local time as Auckland Control vectored us towards Waiheke island. They then put us in a hold over the gulf which we quickly became concerned about. From our flight plan it should have been obvious to the controllers that we had just flown nearly 600 miles in a light twin with a max range of not much more than that. John informed them that we were fuel critical to which a somewhat incredulous controller replied “how critical?” In fact we would have had about 20 minutes until we were into the reserves so John informed them that we needed to be sequenced as soon as pos-sible. It was busy…there were a lot of flights arriving at that time so eventually we were sequenced between a couple of Beech 1900s and vectored to intercept the ILS approach at about 5 miles. We were in full IMC but eventually NZAA appeared out of the murk in front of us. We kept our speed

up until on short final. I landed short to ensure we could get off the runway quickly so as not to stuff up the following aircraft.

We taxied to Air Centre One and shut down. We were passed the obligatory can of “kill all the bugs” spray through the storm window and then sat and waited to be given the all clear by the MAF guy. Finally we were allowed to disem-bark and I can tell you it was very pleasant to be able to stretch out after more than 5 hours in the aircraft. The Customs guy did the paper-work, the aircraft was refueled and we were on our way to NE.

John landed VH-CGW at her new home at about 1930 on Friday the 31st of May 2013.

The Log

YSBK-YSBK 1.2 Night Systems Test FlightYSBK-YCFS 2.5 Day Bankstown to Coffs HarbourYCFS-YLHI 2.6 Day Coffs Har-bour to Lord Howe IslandYLHI-YNSF 3.8 Day Lord Howe Island to Norfolk IslandYNSF-NZAA 3.8 Day,1 Night Norfolk Island to Auckland AirportNZAA-NZNE 0.4 Night Auckland to North Shore

Total Distance YSBK – NZNE 1630.3nm

Got that damn HF working at last!

Looks like home!

Hi everyone.

We have not done too well getting our competi-tions done this year due WX and other things

However we have completed some and are planning a major competition day on 18 August where we will try to run as many as possible on the one day.

Remember, our club comps are open to all. Generally they are open to all license types; SPL, PPL RPL CPL at club level, although some are specifically for SPL and PPL/RPL like Senior Landing, Junior Landing and the Navigation comps.) You can fly them in any suitable aircraft, your own or Club aircraft. Comps are a good way of getting involved in the NZ-wide aviation community as winners at club level go forward to Regional and National RNZAC events. They’re also a real good way if advanc-ing your training if you’re a SPL and a good way of improving your skills and having a bit of fun for everyone.

This year, winners of Club Comps will be the recipients of a prize donated by long-standing club member, Frank Warnock (Fearless Frank) in addition to the normal cups and certificates awarded at the annual NSAC Wings Dinner.

Results to date:

Pre-Flight Defects (Thanks to Tony Payne for organising):

• 1st Steve Perreau• 2nd Christoph Berthoud• 3rd Stephen Jones

Ivor Warmington Life Raft Dropping:• 1st Craig Vause and Richard• 2nd Christoph Berthoud and Kirsty Coleman

• 3rd Nicho Wehler and Ellie

Time was getting on a bit before Christoph and Kirsty competed and this was probably the first time that we have done a Life Raft Drop after ECT with the “man in the water” lit with LED strobes.

In addition to the official Club Comps we have run a “Carrier Landing” completion. The object being simply to be airborne before the end of the 150M deck and to land and stop without falling off the end. However we scored this on the shortest aggregate of take-off and landing over two circuits. Results as follows:

• 1st Craig Vause in TZG• 2nd Michael Bach in TZG• 3rd Equal Chris Berthoud in TZG and Alan Hull in DSQ.

The shortest take off was 125M by Alan Hull in DSQ and the shortest landing of 130M was shared by Christoph and Stephen Jones, both in TZG.

Other comps partly run that we will continue are:

• Low flying SPL/PPL/RPL/CPL• Bombing SPL/PPL/RPL/CPL.

(there are separate trophies for CPL for these two competitions)

We look forward to seeing you all having a go on our competition day 18 August.

Rhonda DredgeCompetiton Coordinator.

KOMPETIT ION KORNER

Long serving Club Members John and Mary Eckett were made Honorary Members of the Club at the May Committee Meeting.

The award of Honorary Membership was in recognition of the support and involvement John and Mary have given the Club over many years.

John’s interest in aviation began in 1946 when he was appointed Communications Manager with B.O.A.C. in West Africa who were then flying DC3’s. He held this position for 5 years and in 1953 transferred to the Sudan on secondment to Sudan Airways then headed by “Bomber” Harris

Both John and Mary have been regular enthusiastic crew members in the annual B.P. Navigation Competition and with Judith Grant were winners on at least one occasion.They also participated in the Great Northern Air Race this time with Dawson Boles in command.

John has been a regular participant in Club working bees and Mary was always on hand to en-sure the workers were well catered for with her ever popular home baked cookies.

A feature every year for John was an aerobatic flight with a Club instructor to celebrate his birthday. Poor health has temporarily grounded John from flying in small aircraft but he assures us that both he and Mary will still be around to support the Club wherever possible.

North Shore Aero Club former Chief Flying Instructor Tim Maynard married long term partner Colette Zollingere on 1 June. Club Instructor and friend Alistair Blake officiated as best man. Invited guests included former Club Instructors James Purdie, Nico Jamieson.

Photo above– Alistair Blake with newly married Tim and Colette Maynard

Photo– Michelle Blake.

   

Night  Flying    

Have  you  ever  wanted  to  fly  at  night?  Dreamt  of  cruising  over  the  velvet  countryside  under  a  star  lit  sky?  

 Yes!    Then  why  not  speak  to  us  about  getting  your  Night  Rating?  

 Flying  at  night  is  an  amazing  experience  and  a  very  useful  skill  to  have.  

   

Stating  on  Thursday  25th  July  2013,  Glen  Ross  will  be  available  for    Night  Rating  Instruction  /  Currency  Checks    

EVERY  THURSDAY  NIGHT*,    until  the  end  of  NZST  (29th  September  2013).  

 If  you  would  like  to  gain  your  Night  Rating  or  would  like  to  become  

current  again,  please  contact    Lynn  at  the  Club  on  0800  4  WINGS    

to  book  your  slot**.          

*Every  effort  will  be  made  to  ensure  the  availability  of  aircraft  and  instructors,  however,  due  to  operational  reasons  and  instructor  availability  this  may  not  always  be  possible.  **  ADVANCED  BOOKINGS  ESSENTIAL  &  MANDATORY.  

The forecast looked good for the weekend so mid-week we decided to try a mini Vintage day at North Shore. Gilly arranged the pilots, Daryl looked at the procedures and I sorted out the logistics. We used Facebook and an email to pass the plan onto the membership.

The idea was to give our members an oppor-tunity to have a ride or some “hands on time” in some of the rarest aircraft in the world…for example there are only 2 flying examples of the DH94 Moth Minor flying in the world! So with the Moth Minor, the L4A Grasshopper, the Auster and Bruce Lynch’s Tiger Moth we had 4 aircraft people could get some stick time and the Fox Moth for comfortable passenger rides. We also made the club’s new Twin, the BE76 Duchess, available for intro flights at a much reduced rate.

The Grass has been closed for some time but Daryl and Bruce found a suitable area for the Tiger to operate from between the crosswind runway and the clubhouse taxiway on the north western side of the seal runway.

So at midday on Sunday there was already an orderly queue forming as Kirsty Coleman, clipboard firmly in hand, kept us on schedule as the first flight got away in the Tiger on schedule. Next Stan Smith had the Moth Mi-nor airborne followed by the first load of 3 in the Fox Moth.

John Humphries bought the

Nanchang over and offered flights in that as well. On his second flight with Stuart Russell, John had a brake failure indication in flight so executed a perfect short field landing and then guided the “chang” onto the grass at the end of 21. A large bunch of helpers materialised to manhandle the Nanchang back onto the runway while the runway was closed due to the ob-struction. Within a few minutes we were towing the aircraft back to its hangar so normal service was resumed.

For the next 5 hours all of the aircraft, except the Auster, flew multiple missions with more than 35 bums on seats. We had model aircraft guys, kids as young as 4, and lots of our pilots both new and experienced. We had visitors fro the A few people tried multiple aircraft includ-ing one guy who managed to get a fly in all 4! Stan, Bruce, Daryl, Rhys Postlewaight and Graeme Wood hopped in and out of the aircraft

Mini Vintage Day

NEW MEMBERS

We welcome the following new members to our club:

We look forward to seeing you at the club at one of our social occa-sions!

Simon SavageSimon KayDavid StraubPeter HoweAngelo CruzGiovanni NustriniMichael VearJohn and Mary Eckett (Honorary)John BroadwellOscar Garcia Jr.

Rose Anne GlasgowNathan LloydSteven CompainDavid TillJon McGettiganA.G.HemmingsenRicky KloetPaul VujcichJulian Miller

as required to keep the list moving.

Once the aircraft were put away many ad-journed to the clubhouse for an excellent meal and a few drinks. Tony had the kitchen running at capacity turning meals out for many. It was great to see the place packed.

All in all the day was a huge success with many getting an opportunity to fly in aircraft they would otherwise never be able to. Everyone worked well to get as many flights done as we could and by the end of the day knew they had

been busy!

Special thanks to Stan, Gilly and Bruce for making their beautiful aircraft available Also thanks to all of the pilots for giving us their time. We will do this again, probably in September, but as in this case it will be very short notice based upon weather, grass runway availability and pilot availability.

Watch our facebook page and your email inbox for more information!

Also

m i l e s t o n e s

PPL

Yi Room Lee

Solo

Liang Tan

Solo

Liam McCosh

CPL

Rebecca Blackwood

Eric Blackwell

C-Cat Instructor

Andrew Crowhurst

PPL

Solo

Billy Goddard- Worthington

Michael Bach

Aeros and Spinning InstructorNight Instructor

CONGRATULATIONS!

Also:Solo:Longee GuoCameron Candy

C-Cat Instructor:Tae Kim

SEIR:Michael Lambden

Night Instructor:Glenn Ross

Lee proposed to his lady over Orewa yesterday, luckily she said yes!

NORTH SHOREAERO CLUB

HAS A RESTAURANT

The restaurant has been successfully running for over 2 months, each week members have enjoyed a wide range of high quality culinary delights, all very reasonably priced.

Come join us and enjoy an evening of good company, good food and excellent surroundings.

ALL FRESHLY MADESNACKS FROM $5.00BAR MEALS

•PIZZA •BURGERS •SALADS

WEEKEND SPECIALS (new specials every week)

•STEAK & KIDNEY PIE•ROAST BEEF WITH YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS•CHICKEN & MUSHROOM IN A TARRAGON CREAM SAUCE•LAMB SHANK

FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY

4.30PM TILL CLOSING

North Shore Aero Club

Postman Road, RD4 Albany 0794.

Flightline Aviation North Shore

External Corrosion RemovalIs your aircraft starting to show signs of corrosion? It may only be cosmetic now, but don’t give corrosion the chance to get out of hand. If left, corrosion could lead to your aircraft requiring a new paint job or even worse requiring new parts. Flightline Aviation North Shore can carry out spot removal of corrosion, treating, priming, and finish coating.

PaintingIs your aircraft starting to look a bit worse for wear? We can carryout touch ups – no job too big or too small, experienced painter on-site.

Scheduled MaintenanceDo you have any outstanding maintenance? If your fixed wing or rotary wing aircraft is not being utilised over the winter period, now would be a good time to get anyoutstanding maintenance completed. Contact us to obtain a price.

Incomplete Projects/RepairsHave you started a project or repair to your aircraft but run out of time or enthusiasm to complete it? We are more than happy to come and have a look, provide advice and provide a Quote/Estimate free-of-charge in order to help you get airborne again.

Avionics/Instrument UpgradesDo you want any of the following installed; cell phone, blue tooth, GPS, 406MHz ELT, flight following equipment.

Cabin Interior RefurbishmentIs it time for a tidy up of your aircraft’scabin interior? We can source either genuine or approved after market interior kits, and arrange recovering of seats in fabric or leather.

Internal Corrosion ProtectionLet us quote you a price to protect your valuable asset from the environment by applying a preventative corrosion inhibitor to the interior surfaces of your aircraft.

Engine and Propeller OverhaulsDon’t forget, Flightline Aviation can also overhaul your piston engines and propellers with very competitive pricing.

Need any of the following?Reweigh, prop balance, 500 hr magneto inspections, modifications, component repair or overhaul, CAA Approved Maintenance Programme, parts.......give us a call or pop in to discuss.

Think that you can’t afford it? Come in and discuss your individual requirements. Deferred payment plan* or finance option* maybe available.

Russell KeastBranch Manager

* Special conditions and criteria apply

One hour “Intro Flight” - $460.00Half an Hour “Intro Flight” - $230.00

Twenty Minute “Intro Flight” - $160.00If you want something a little more serious get off to a

“Flying Start” for $1,420.00 you get: > 3 hours Flying Instruction > Ground Tuition > Briefing Sheets / R22 Checklist > Landing Fees and Airways Charges > and a Pilot Log Book

Ever wanted the opportunity to fly a helicopter?Now you can achieve your dream by taking an introductory flight

We are pleased to offer a range of ‘Introductory Flights’ to get a flying start or give as a present to that special person.

Vouchers are available and valid for six months. Only one option per person. No more than three hours previous helicopter flying experience. Payment in full in ad-vance. Cash or cheque only. Prices include GST.

NORTH SHORE HELICOPTER TRAINING LIMITED

North Shore Airfield, Postman Road, RD4, Albany, Auckland

Ph: 09 426 8748 - info@helitraining.co.nz

New GPS

1 When using a transparent fuel tester to check for water contamination of Avgas, what is it that indicates the

presence of water?a clear bubbles at the top of the fuel sampleb coloured bubbles at the bottom of the samplec the Avgas has a generally cloudy blue appear-

anced clear bubbles at the bottom of the sample

2 At what distance from the runway threshold should you report “final”?

a less than 4 milesb between 4 and 8 milesc approximately 10 miles

3 All pilots should know that”Z’ or ‘Zulu’ time is UTC(aka GMT), but how many of these other ‘Z’ aviation ab-

breviations can you recognise?a MATZb TMZc LLZd TDZEe MHzf ZFWg FRZN

4 Which of these conditions is likely to result in the formation of hoar frost on the wings of an aeroplane parked

in the open air?a wing temperature at or below 0 deg C when

droplets of water fall onto itb wing temperature at or below the dew point

of the surrounding air and dew point is lower than 0 deg C

c temperature of surrounding air is at or below 0 deg C when small drops of moisture fall onto the wing

5 In which of the following height bands above the surface do the satel-lites used by GPS (Global Positioning

System) orbit the earth?a low earth orbit (between 180 and 2000 km)b geostationary orbit (36,000 km)c medium earth orbit (20,200 km)d Sun- synchronous orbit (approx. 800-1000

km)

6 The acronym VOR stands for VHF (Very High Frequency) Omnidirec-tional Radio Range. The meaning of

‘VHF’ is obvious and the words ‘Omnidirec-tional and ‘Radio’ need no explanation, but what is the origin of the word ‘Range’ in this context?a a mountainous areab a nautical termc the specific distance that signals from the

VOR can reachd a piece of kitchen equipmente an are of ground used for hunting or grazing

animals

7 While you are taxiing an aeroplane you are advised not to use carburet-tor hot air. What is the reason for this

advice?

a to avoid the oil temperature rising too highb to prevent overheating of the exhaust valves c because carb icing is unlikely to occur on the

ground and even if it does it is not dangerousd to reduce wear in the engine

AV I ATO R S E L F T E S TA selection of brain teasers by James Allan, published by ‘Pilot’, Britain’s most widely read GA magazine. With kind permission of the author and Pilot magazine.www.pilotweb.aero

Check your answers here:

1 d 2 a “long final” is b; 4-8 miles from the threshold

3 a Military Air Traffic Zone; b Transponder Mandato-ry Zone; c ILS localiser; d Touchdown Zone Eleva-tion; e Megaherz; f Zero Fuel Weight; g Frozen

4 b Hoar frost forms in much the same way as dew but the dew point must be below 0 deg C. In condi-tions a and c ice would form on the wing rather than hoar frost. 5 c The satellites used by the GLONASS, Galileo,

Compass etc. global navigation systems also all orbit between 19,000 km and 24,000 km above the earth’s surface

6 b it is a nautical term meaning ‘line of direction’ often associated with, for example, the lining up of two buoys or lights.

7 d Carb hot air is unfiltered and dust drawn into the engine can cause wear

Aircraft Maintenance at Parakai Airfield Give your aircraft the attention it deserves

• Aluminium and composite structures • Piston, turbine, turbo diesel, rotax • Maintain, refurbish, repair, import, projects • Maintenance management options • Independent Annual Review Of Airworthiness

Transfer service/courtesy car available www.ParakaiAirfield.co.nz

Call Bryn Lockie 021 681 900