Phil Perry

I remember being suddenly "whited out" whilst flying a C-210 not far away from Melbourne in the early seventies,. . . .( Yes,. . . I know, . . . lack of attention ) they said they couldn't see me on the radar at all and could therefore offer no advice, YET. . . . . a couple of months later they had a sharp word with me for nearly "Grazing" controlled airspace in almost the same position flying the same aeroplane ! ! ! ! ! maybe the clouds got in the way of the radar signal in the first instance. . . . .( ? )

 

To be fair to ATC, we didn't have a transponder . . . . .

 

 

Well it works both ways, I had a windscreen full of red 737 one morning as I was tracking by Townsville class C, and it wasn't me in the wrong place, or at the wrong altitude. I was below the required 2500' with the correct QNH, and the 737 who I had been monitoring was cleared, not below 3000'.He passed in front of me probabily not 200' above, close enough that I was seeing if I recognised any of the passengers looking out of the cabin windows !!.....

 

I do operate a transponder and I'm sure he had a TCAS alert on me, as I would expect. Sometimes I think they just come down for a look. It was fairly early and possibly before Townsville tower was active. The ridge that he passed across is around 2700 ' so he didn't have a whole heap of clearance there either. Not a real drama for me but I was watching for him and expected him to be quite a bit higher thats all.

 

Often when operating around the Proserpine airport zone we have to interact with arriving and departing burners. The radio comm is all good and I'll often drop down to a 1000' over a known landmark to give them approach clearance. By the tone of their response I know they always appreciate that, even though I also know they have me on TCAS. Theses guys and gals are doing a non-controlled visual into Prossy so do appreciate any assistance with other traffic I'm sure.... Another big concern around the Townsville area is camouflaged military traffic, particularly helicopters.....they appear out of the blue, at any height, and often are not on normal channel that you are required to be on. When you call them for a heads up, no response......If we hit one or have a near-miss, guess who's fault it will be ?..........Maj...

 

Ross,. . . . good article bloke,. . . . .

Our militaries use UHF radio only unfortunately, so we can't talk to them directly,. . . . shame that ! ! ! dunno whether your khaki warriors do the same, you didn't say. The RAF don't usually carry VHF, Except in the case of the Red Arrows display team, who have to deal with lots of Civvy airspace whilst transiting mostly at low level between gigs in the airshow season, but tornados and Eurofighters,. . . ? forget it.

 

As for Civvy jet jobs, well, they drop out of controlled airspace into the open F.I.R. regularly around our airfield, where the lowest protected airspace is FL 45. . . . this is, well, as far as I am concerned, so dangerous as to rate as bloody stupid, especially in the summer months when they have been known to pass over our very busy airfield as low as 2500 ft,. .. with microlight aircraft operating in the area higher than this. . . . it is normally to speed up ops into Birmingham I realise, but I wonder what the passengers would think if they knew that his was going on on a regular basis.

 

I personally witnessed a 737 going beneath me last year, I was at 2800 feet on local qnh, not unreasonable when the base of the protected airway was another 1,700 feet above me,. . . . Yes yes yes, I KNOW. . . . an airliner is ALLOWED to descend outside controlled airspace without special permission if it helps with a visual approach,. . . I'm just whingeing about the lack of commonsense inherent in this activity, when the sky is full of guys like me in toy aeroplanes, operating without any parental guidance from big brother. . .

 

OK end of rant.

 

In the event of a collision,. . . . who's fault will it be I wonder. . . . . .

 

Hmmmm

 

Phil

 

 

what is the difference between flyable and airworthy ?this is not a trick question neil

ALLO NEIL. . . . .

 

Over here in Aglettere,. . . . the term "Airworthy" can only be applied to an appliance which has a current ticket from either the CAA ie, a certificate of airworthiness,. or a permit to fly. . . issued by either the British Microlight Aircraft Association, or the Light aircraft Association, delegated by the CAA.

 

The term "FLYABLE" can be applied to any piece of equipment or appliance which is capable of entering the realm we friends all know as. . . . flight, in some way shape or form. . . ..

 

I would imagine that, since Australia is not totally dissimilar to the UK in it's certification processes, that the two terms you have mentioned are fairly self explanatory.

 

Hey,. . . . . let's stay SAFE and what's more. . . . . CERTIFIED out there . . . .

 

Phil

 

 

Your training was probably like mine, Phil and happened a long time ago. You just jumped out of one into the other and thought nothing of it. Some U/L taildraggers are pretty directionally challenging due to things like design (small rudders) set up of tailwheel geometry, positioning of mainwheels re Cof G. In the air they FLY the same of course but landing them is a different matter. I don't know about you, but If I jumped into a C-180 not having flown one for a while, my first few landings would be interesting to watch. Plenty of U/L's are more difficult to land than a C-180. nev

Oh, Hey,. . . . I should have stuck that in as well,. . . .!!! OF COURSE,. . .lighter airframes are going to be affected somewhat more by the crosswind effect ( taildragggers) and I wouldn't want to decry this since it is all part of general physics ,. . . . ie, comparing the DHC Chipmunks and C120 / 140 / and 180 / DC3 types I flew in the early days, cannot realistically be compared to,. . .say a Kitfox,. . .which is, of course a far lighter airframe and will, quite happily groundloop if you ain't quick enough with he fancy footwork, or let a swing go too far. . . . the newer super lightweight things just don't have the mass / inertia to allow sufficient time for a slack driver to assess what is happening and apply the appropriate control input to prevent the situation from becoming pear shaped. . . . . . it happens rather quickly, and I really ought to have addressed this when comparing thrusters and other lightweight taildraggers you may have in OZ that I'm unaware of. . . . I HAVE had some interesting moments with Denney Kitfox Mk II, III, and 1V. . . . . ( Lightweight, low inertia appliances. . . . ) at the end of the day,. . . the centre of gravity on a tailwheel aeroplane is BEHIND he mainwheels, SO. . . . the back end is always trying to overtake the front end, and the natural tendency is for it to diverge, which is an interesting game for the driver.. . . a nosedrafgger of course, tends to "want" to run straight, due to the wheel configuration. . . . . . I really ought to have been somewhat more erudite in my reply to that post. . . . . .

 

Sorry. ( skulks off into the woods grumbling. . . .)

 

HOWEVER,. . . .I stand by what I said in my earlier post responding to Don. . . If an ab-initio pilot is taught to fly using a super you beaut lightweight taildragger,. . . . . .etc. . . .etc. . . .

 

I don't hold with the view ( others seeem to have, that it is going to make him a better pilot than someone who learned on a nosedragger though. . . . . . . . they have their own particular traits and peculiarities don't they ? ? ? . . . . .

 

Phil

 

 

As a general rule I DO NOT recommend learning to fly on a tail-dragger.  

 

If, however, the student understands and is prepared to accept the extra challenge (and probably longer training time) then go for it!

 

 

 

DWF

Hi Don,. . . . if you don't mention the difference between tail and nosewheel U/C, then I venture to suggest that most new students would not notice. They would simply do what is neccessary to please the instructor and keep up with the excercises. I think that there is far too much emphasis on the difference between the variants, whereas when I ( and probably you also ) learned to fly, both types were about, but the instructors never differentiated,. . . .you just went up in whatever was available on the line at the time.

 

No "Bogeyman" status was ever attributed to tailwheels back then, so why now I wonder. . . .? I'd hate to think that this might be anything to do with "Dumbing down" or otherwise trying to make things easier for an ab initio pilot,. . . . ? personally, notwithstanding crosswind handling techniques being slightly different in some cases,. . . I never noticed much difference throughout my training. . . .

 

Kind regards Phil

 

 

Paddy goes to the surgery and says. . . "Doc, my back passage is hurting like heck, can you have a look please ?"

 

The doctor says " No problem Paddy, . . .drop your strides and I'll take a look."

 

The doctor notices a $20.00 note protruding from Paddy's back passage and pulls it out,. . .it is then followed by another, and another and another, then loads of tens and fives,.. . . until the surgery floor is covered with notes.

 

Paddy looks around and says, " good grief doc, can you count all that,. . . I havent got me glasses with me"

 

The doctor sighs and counts all the money. He finally stands up and says "Paddy, there's one thousand nine hundred and ninety five dollars altogether".

 

Paddy says, " aaaaahhhhhh doctor, that explains it then. . . sure and that's why I didn't feel too grand. . . . . . . . . ."

 

 

I've just read a rather good tome by an American airline pilot named Patrick Smith, entitled "Cockpit Confidential".

 

It was suggested to me by a frightened flier ( passenger ) who bought it at an airport bookshop in New York, and he said it was an eye opener for him, as it explained a large number of the things which worried him as a regular but relucant airline passenger.

 

I thought it was very good actually, even though it was written by a septic ( ! ) who forgets the second "ell" in the word traveler. . . . but other than the fact that us and the yanks are separated by a common language, the bloke is very erudite and talks a lot of sense about all sorts of aspects of the airline industry and the book is certainly worth a read, even if you are not yourself hours building towards a very low paid job flying commercial passenger aircraft.

 

Just though you'd like to know. . . . .

 

Phil XX

 

 

Not just airline but military. So, no, I was NOT attempting to give Hans a flying lesson. However, this is an open forum so lots of people - some like me no doubt with less significant credentials and experience - may read it. I have heard of a few newbie FB pilots being caught unawares by the grip of the Tundra tyres, just one of the things to think about when deciding which kit to choose I guess. I have since found out (following up from Hans' last comment) that the nose leg has to be changed when switching from one to t'other so not quite so easy to have both sets and change over for XC trips vs. bush bashing.I have a cruise pitch setting on my prop, the T/O and climb performance being more than adequate for the lower altitude (the DA does get up a bit here in WA in summer too but not to 8000'). It seems like that just about compensates for the drag from the TTs so that Hans and I have roughly the same cruise performance. It's not about that really anyway with the FB...a great aeroplane for looking at big running animals from ! (you don't have any of those left in old Albion either Phil though I'm sure you scared a few buffalo when you were out here in between driving Tiger Moth's into ditches...yes I have a long memory !).

 

Foxbat specific forum should be up again soon btw.

Tee Hee FB. . . . . . . a Tiger into a Berwick ditch was only a fairly early and TINY example of my aviation related incompetence, . . .you dunno a tenth of it matey ! fortunately ( depending upon one's point of view I suppose ) I've survived with nearly all of my bits still sort of working. . . .

 

Stay lucky.

 

Phil

 

 

None of our UK Foxbats have tundra tyres ( as far as I am aware, but then again, . . .we have not got much tundra here in England. . . ) and Boxfat,.. . . are you seriously trying to advise a retired airline pilot how to keep an aeroplane straight on a runway . . .?

 

( No I didn't think so, . . .must've been a mistake. . .)

 

Sorry about my friends Hans,. . . . . No offence meant ( ! )

 

( And YES. . .I DO know about the differential friction effects when using wide aspect tyres. . . .)

 

 

Thanks Jeremy,. . . I have purloined good quality copies of "Frigate Bird" AND. . . "The Boats I flew" from a little shop in Ross on Wye, Herefordshire,. . . .( the home town of old books. . . )for the princely sum of less than three quid for both ! ! ! And thanks to Nev as well.

 

I shall promulgate these tomes to my aero club freinds when read a couple of times to eddificate them a little more. . . . ( I've already upset the CFI by asking him if he has ever flown a float plane or flying boat,. . . . . He hasn't. . . .. . . ) You've got to keep these mentors on their toes I reckon. . . .

 

 

Thanks for the suggestions, very helpful

 

Phil

 

 

Crashed his aircraft then rode off into the night...... .Alan.

Did you mean. . . he RODE off into the night Alan,. . . because if there was a creek nearby, perhaps he could have. . . . . . .ROWED off into etc. . . . . .

 

 

I doubt it.

Hmmmm,. . . .you could well be correct,. . . . . . dunno. ( about doubting it I mean of course.. . .)

 

 

Dazza, you made a spelling mistake .........!!!!

Don't worry DAZZA. . . . . I make delibrate speling and ridiculus gramatikal mistakes al the time, just to keep some of the more "Erudite" and otherwise ediffimakated colonial blokes from geting boored with the eksiting subjekt of forum ayveayshun subjects, with which they are quite obvioulsy not that intrested. . . . . .

 

Pihl

 

 

Bloody weak those nose wheels aren't they

Sharrap yer daft bugger,. . . . .

 

Maybe it had something do do with the S K I L L of the pilot ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

 

 

Wherever you go with your aeroplane Chris,. . . . there will be issues of course. . .

 

I have only found France,. . . .to have the most BRILLIANT Attitude regarding people who fly small aircraft,. . . . I have been there on at least twenty occasions, ( probably more actually ) where a guy called Lucien, or Pierre will give you ( free of charge ) the use of an old Citroen 2CV, or something even older, so that you can get to the "Old Town" or the "Village" or the "Centre Ville" or the port, to sample the local haute cuisine. . . . he will always suggest a particular bar or restaurant where you will receive good service at a modest price ( NORMALLY BANG ON. . .) I've found that invariably, this does NOT happen when flying around the UK.

 

The usual response at UK small airfields is something like. . ." Get a bloody taxi. . ." OR . . . "There's a bus stop half a mile down the road squire. . . have a nice day. . . "

 

Whether things are better at Australian provincial landing places, I dunno,. . . .it's bin a long time since I was there ( Before the time when they charged you to drag your dunlops on their dirt anyway . . .)

 

Phil

 

 

Hiya Chris,. . .

 

I won't try to expand on what all the other worthies have already said regarding flight apparatus, apart from the inconvenience bit when you land somewhere. We often land in the Isle of Man for the TT motorcycle racing, but the airfield is seven miles away from the nearest part of the race course. Yes, taxis pass by once a week, but we usually have to get a landlubber to travel across on the ferry bringing all the tents, beer and of course the van, so we can all pile in and move about at the other end !! If you plan your landing places in advance, then ground transport from the landing place shouldn't be much of an issue.

 

Welcome

 

Phil

 

 

"

 

Q1. Define "aircraft crash"(stats 101)

I don't have to define anything. . . .I got that from the Qi book of 1,227 facts to blow your socks off, ( This came out of a very popular "QI" TV show in the UK hosted by Stephen Fry, and when I get it back from the wag who borrowed it last,. . . I'll post the website containing the source material for all the "facts" therein contained.

 

In the meantime, you could google UK -"QI" TV show - Stephen Fry,. . .and go from there. . . the book was compiled by three of the QI "Elves" ( those in the backroom who checked all the "facts". . .)

 

Phil

 

 

There is a DVD that was produced in Grafton not too long ago called "Flying Boats on the Clarence" ( the river that runs past Grafton) & there is some good footage of the Sunderlands that passed through. The story is also very interesting but a typical example of investing a large fortune ( for the day) then end up with a small one, well actually nothing.

Thanks for that KG,. . . The author of Bird of the Islands mentions landing on the Clarence and mooring up at Grafton as the first stop out of his Sydney base, on his Island cruises prior to leaving the Australian coastline for Noumea. He desperately wanted to keep the aircraft based in Australia, rather than use Suva as a base, even though this seemed a more sensible prospect given the growing number of passenger enquiries from the USA mainland, due to the connectivity aspect as Suva had a hard runway capable of taking international flights from the States. . . . .Worth a read, the guy was a consummate writer, and reading his stuff you could almost taste the flavour of the places he visited.

 

Phil

 

 

Thanks for the tip off about another good flying read Phil, I haven't read any of his yet. Here's The Sky Beyond in paperback for $2.66 (plus postage) from Amazon.

Thanks for the heads up re Amazon Alan,. . . .I now have a good secondhand copy of "the sky beyond" to read as soon as I get a spare minute. ( for only £2.40 !

 

I recently read a fairly new one, called "COCKPIT CONFIDENTIAL" by Patrick Smith. In my viw, extremely well researched and written. A really good appraisal of airline flying including a running glossary of all the ins and outs of flying passenger aircraft, along with some statistics, terms and buzzwords and a whole lot more, very up to date. I can forgive the fact that it was written by an American Gent, I could tell straight away as he spells "TRAVELLER " with only one "Ell" Other than that, he's very erudite,. . . bit like me really. . . .( ! )

 

He upset me a bit when he revealed that, even though the British Airways Ad slogan is "THE WORLD'S FAVOURITE AIRLINE," he shot that to bits with the fact that whichever way you look at it,. . .it actually works out to be "The World's 26th Favourite airline. . ." ! ! !

 

his manuscript must have hit the printer's just prior to the Avianca debacle at Sanfrancisco though, as he lists them as number one in the world ( Eh ? )

 

Definitely worth a read all the same.

 

 

Taylor, Sir Patrick Gordon (1896–1966)by Keith Isaacs

 

Phil,.. . . . thank you very much for reproducing that very interesting article. I'm sorry I didn't respond earlier, but have been away for a while ( no,. . .not in jail, they have not caught me yet. . .). Phil P.

I just tried to edit the above post but must have run out of time,. . .the previous book by the same author is entitled "The Sky Beyond" . . . I can't find any reference to it on any of the book sites in the UK, I wonder if any of you blokes can find it ?? The author was a military aviator in BOTH world wars, an airline pilot, and a pioneer opening up various routes in the Pacific for flying boat bases, and was the first to fly in to some of the islands by flying boat. He used to accompany Charles Kingsford Smith on some of these expeditions, but there is no mention of him in the history notes from the period ! ! He was involved a well publicised heroic incident ( Then) involving a multi engined aircraft where he actually climbed out onto a wing in flight, and performed some essential maintenance thereby saving the aircraft. . . . where have all these blokes gone now I wonder, . . .

 

Phil

 

 

I wonder if any of you bookworms have read a particularly good tome called "Bird of the Islands" by Australian Aviation pioneer Sir Gordon Taylor. . .?

 

I have just finished the second reading ( I have to read them twice as oime a bit on the thick side . . .)

 

I found this book a really cracking read, it's about Mr Taylor's exploits in trying to start off a cruise service using a converted Sunderland Flying Boat purchased in the uk, with flights based in Sydney, via Grafton to Noumea and thence on to Suva, Fiji, Tahiti and a lot of the Pacific islands in his aircraft named "Frigate Bird 111". The period is in the mid 1950's, so it might not appeal to a lot of you young bucks, but it goes into great technical navigational detail which is fascinating. The bloke is obviously an erudite and consummate writer, . . .just reading his prose you can almost smell the islands he is describing,. . . anyway,. . . . if you get a chance to read it, please do, . . .and enjoy. It was published in Australia by Cassell. I'm still looking for a previous book by the same author, detailing his flying experiences in the first world war and just after.

 

 

No drinking within 50 feet of the aircraft and near naked flames. Nev

Thanks for the heads up Nev,. . .mind you, I only drink normal wine within 50 feet of a flying appliance, as it isn't that explosive. . . ( unless its inside an Airbus A320) but when I have my friend Brendan over from Ireland,. . . well, he brings this stuff in a soft drink bottle called Pocine ( POTCHEEN ) a drink made from potaters,. . . . and around 100 proof. . . . if you don't like the taste, it doesn't matter, as it gets those annoying oil stains off you runway better than any other preparation I've ever seen. ( Hic )

 

Just had a bit in fact,. . .now what were we talking about,. . .? oh burger, . . . I've forgotten. . . .

 

Phil

 

 

Please drink up Phil and be shaw to buy Aus wine " Wine grower"

I DO tend to consume quantities of Aussie Wines Geoff,. . . . ( BUT ONLY VERY SMALL QUANTITIES, SO THAT IT DOESN'T INTERFERE WITH ME FLYING THAT MUCH. . . . !)

 

Jacobs Creek being one of them, . . . can't find anything over here in the UK from the Michelton Winery in Vic though, I wonder if they are still operating. . . .