THE BAT HAWK

Andrew Pappas founded Micro Aviation many years ago. Micro Aviation was the southern African agent for the New

Zealand designed Bantam B22 for many years, until a combination of the exchange rate and difficulty with the new owners

of the Bantam factory, forced Andrew to consider his own design in the place of the Bantam. The new South African Bat

Hawk has been designed and developed by Micro Aviation South Africa primarily for surveillance and is the most affordable

light sport aircraft on the market.

JULY, 2014

VOL 11 ISSUE 6/14

L A C NEWSLETTER

A ship in harbor is safe – but that is not what ships are for.

LOWVELD AERO CLUB COMMITTEE

2014 Thomas Nel, Kerry Palermo, Michiel Jansen,

Brian Monthe, Cobus van Rensburg, Ginette Wells,

Pieter Pretorius, Kobus Jacobs (photos not received when publish)

During the next few months, we will be sharing some info regarding our committee members.

This month it will be Kerry Palermo – Chairman and Michiel Jansen – Vice Chairman

KERRY PALERMO – Chairman/lady What is your day time job? “I’m an International medical Insurance Advisor/Consultant

Association to aviation? “PPL, and hangar owner

How many hours and what do you fly? “I do have a Cessna 206 and got 180 hours.

Hobbies: “I love Philosophy and adventure and sometimes some exercise!!

The Club has so much potential and the challenge is to keep the membership strong and the club

sustainable. I want to make a difference as Chairman and with the Club member’s advice and support we

can make a huge difference.

MICHIEL JANSEN – Vice Chairman What is your day time job? “I’m a business man, a Manufacturer”.

What’s your association to aviation? “I’m a pilot and fly a Foxbat. I do have ratings for Bantam and Sling.

Love to do anti- poaching flying, Use my plane for my business, leisure and bush flying.”

How many hours do have and what license to do you have? “I do have an LSA license and have 650 hours”

What hobbies do you have? “Hunting, Deep sea angling, Scuba, radio control planes, water sport”.

“I started flying in August 2010 with a Bantam. I am one of the lucky pilots where my wife goes with me in

the Foxbat. Have been all over the country and Swaziland, Mozambique and Botswana. I am proud to be

trained at Nelspruit and to be a member of the Lowveld Aero Club. My wish for LAC is to stop talking bad

about other and rather have a positive attitude towards our club and see more new members and existing

members to be active and positive towards the club.

Remember the club is you, so your positive contribution will make the positive change. I am part of the

Lowveld Airshow committee and love aviation”.

MOUNTAIN FLYING

A FEW POINTERS FROM THE CFI

A word of caution. If you are trying to cross an extended plateau as opposed to the ridgeline, this rule will not work. In this case you will need additional altitude and you must remain in a position to turn to lower terrain.

Study charts carefully for terrain,

pass heights, and good reporting

points. Prominent peaks make good

reporting points.

Get and use as much weather

information as you can. Check winds,

especially at altitude.

The wind will often tend to be a

prevailing westerly above 10 000

feet.

Don’t go when upper winds are

forecast over 25 knots. Winds will be

much stronger over mountain passes.

Don’t go in doubtful weather.

Always have enough altitude to allow

you to glide to a safe landing area.

Constantly assess the wind direction

and logically apply this to your flight

path. There can often be abrupt

changes to wind direction and speed.

Finding a useable horizon can be

difficult. Visualize where the sky

meets the sea and superimpose this

horizon on the terrain as if the

mountains were transparent.

Remember the effects of density

altitude. Take off and climb will take

much longer.

Approach passes and ridges at no

greater than a 45-degree angle.

If you find yourself in a downdraught,

keep the nose down to maintain a

safe airspeed, and alter your flight

path to fly out of the downdraught.

Fly on one side of the valley, not

down the middle. Flying on the left

side will keep you in the up going air

and provide room to turn around if

need be.

Don’t fly any closer than necessary to

abrupt changes of terrain. Dangerous

turbulence can be expected with high

winds due to disruption of the airflow.

Check QNH at departure point and (if

available) at destination. A large

differential (say 4 hPa) equates to high

winds and turbulence, even if this is not

evident on the ground at departure.

Get as much advice as you can from

someone who knows what they are

talking about. The local mountain

operators would rather spend 15

minutes giving you a briefing on their

area of expertise than 15 hours

rescuing you.

Do not fly into mountainous areas when

the local pilots won’t.

Get some training before you go. The

ranges do not need to be 10 000 feet

high, just enough to lose sight of the

horizon.

Fly to your ability and don’t be

overenthusiastic. Better to turn back

early than attempt it too late.

Rely on good decision-making, not

performance. That is, use your brains

and common sense to keep out of

trouble rather than rely on aircraft

performance to get you out.

Always anticipate. If you find yourself

reacting to cues, rather than

anticipating them, then you are strongly

advised to seek some specialist

mountain flying training.

Lastly, and most importantly, always

have an escape route.

In the first picture the airplane is crossing a well-defined ridge. When it is in a position where it can dive, power off, and hit the mid-point of the ridge a commitment may be made to cross the ridge.

In the second picture the airplane is approaching an elongated ridge. Note that it must be at a higher altitude to dive, power off, and reach the mid-point of the ridge.

The altitude at which you approach to cross the ridge will be determined by the shape of the ridge.

***

AIR BRAINTEASERs Identify the aircraft!!!!!

1. 2.

3 . 4.

Test your aviation knowledge 1. Which incident would necessitate an immediate notification to the nearest NTSB

field office? a. An in-flight fire. b. An in-flight loss of VOR receiver capability. c. An in-flight generator/alternator failure.

2. At what altitude shall the altimeter be set to 29.92, when climbing to cruising flight level?

a. 24 000 feet MSL. b. 14 500 feet MSL. c. 18 000 feet MSL.

3. Which combination of atmospheric conditions will reduce aircraft takeoff and climb performance?

a. High temperature, low relative humidity, and low density altitude. b. Low temperature, low relative humidity, and low density altitude. c. High temperature, high relative humidity, and high density altitude.

Find the answers on the last page……………………..

AIRCRAFT FOR SALE

MORANE SAULNIER MS 885 French 4-seater Fore-runner of the Socata Rallye

Continental 0-300A 145hp 6 cylinder

SMOH 1423 hours TBO 1800 hours

Time left on engine 377 hours Magnetos just been overhauled

Carburettor just been overhauled McCauley Propeller New

Fresh MPI with C of Airworthiness New shoulder harnesses

Garmin 100 Pro-Nav GPS Bendix Transponder

Comm and NAV ZS-SMW

Bargain R235 000.00 neg

CONTACT: Zak du Plessis 0828527471

CURRENT FUEL PRICES AVGAS – R19.40 p/l (incl VAT) JET A1 – R15.12 p/l (incl VAT) Please take note that there will be fuel price adjustment effective from 8 March 2014.

MONTH, YEAR VOL # ISSUE #

ENTERTAINMENT

SMILE!!! THE FUNNY SIDE OF FLYING

Just before takeoff on an airplane flight, the stewardess reminded Muhammad Ali to

fasten his seat belt, “Superman don’t need no seat belt,” replied Ali.

“Superman don’t need no airplane either,” retorted the stewardess.

After a long, bumpy flight, our passengers

were glad to finally land. They disembarked,

and the attendants checked for items left

behind.

In a seat pocket, the attendant found a bag of

home-made cookies with a note saying,

“Much love, Mom”. Quickly, he gave the bag

to the gate agent in hopes it would be reunited

with its owner. A few minutes later, an

announcement came over the public-address

system in the concourse: “Would the

passenger who lost his cookies on Flight 502,

please return to the gate?”.

THANK YOU

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE:

*KOBUS JACOBS – FOR THE BARBENCHES

* MICHIEL JANSEN – FOR FIXING THE GASBRAAIER

* NICO GROBLER – FOR FIXING THE LIGHTS AT THE CLUB AND

THE PUTTING A GRILLDOOR WITH LOCK ON FOR THE

GASBOTTLES

LAC CLOTHING LIMITED LAC CLOTHING FOR SALE.

PLEASE COME AND VISIT THE OFFICE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

WIND CHEATERS (STONE/GREEN) – R 285

BEANIES (BLUE/STONE) – R 70

SHIRTS (LONG SLEEVE/SHORT SLEEVE)

GREEN/BLUE/STONE – R 200

NEW STUDENTS!!!!

WILHELM OOSTHUYZEN

ANDREW DESMET

DEWALD SWART

GS VAN DER MERWE

Anton Spear 05 July

Kobus Bezuidenhout 07 July

Raymond Hicks 10 July

Kobus Pieters 11 July

Mohammed Sheikh 12 July

Rose Powell 13 July

John Herbert 14 July

Deon Grobler 14 July

Greyling Jansen 15 July

Paul Nel 17 July

Heinrich Prinsloo 17 July

Jakes Jacobs 19 July

James Vincent 24 July

Kobus Smit 31 July

Congratulations!!!

Answers of the air brainteaser!!

1. G-BUSH-PRIVATE STINSON –V-77

2. CHANCE VOUGHT CORCAIR

3. CURTISS P40 WARHAWK

4. GRUMMAN FM2 WILDCAT

Aviation knowledge

1. a

2. c

3. c

JULY BIRTHDAYS

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

BERNARD VERRYN WENT SOLO ON 26 JUNE!!!