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Curtin Flying Club (Inc.) www.curtinflyingclub.com.au

Volume 16 Issue 1 May 2015 3

President’s Report

Dear Members,

Welcome to the first newletter for 2015. I trust you

will find it an interesting read, and many thanks to Rob

van Hamersveld for all his hard work in assembling

this. Much appreciated also to those members who

made it to the AGM at the end pf March. We now

have a new committee in place for 2015, and if you are

not sure who they might be, please have a look at the

CFC website, which gives you everything you need to

know to get on the blower and give us a hard time.

Many thanks to RACWA for allowing us to use there

function room.

A major point of concern and one which the

maintenance sub-committee is currently working on is

the 2016 implementation of ADS-B. The club has

staked a claim to providing our members with

resources that are as much to the forefront of current

trends as we can practically get them. To that end, we

are investigating various avenues to keep ourselves on

top of the pile. With the G1000 system, upgrading

KXW looks pretty straightforward, but CYQ could

potentially prove to be an expensive upgrade. We will

keep our members updated.

And finally, a reminder; I’m having my ear bent by

those committee members who deal with the financial

aspects of the club. They are putting in more effort

than necessary trying to reconcile flights for which

there are no dockets – these are the ones that finish

invariably when RACWA is closed. There are two

points here. Firstly, it is club policy you have to have

completed a docket as part of your acceptance of the

aircraft. Secondly, it is your responsibility to contact

RACWA the following day to settle your account –

RACWA is not responsible for contacting you. The

onus lies with the club member to settle the account.

Please make sure that you contact RACWA promptly,

and preferably prior to the onset of growling from the

committee!!

Until next time…….

Best wishes and fly safely

Malc. In This Issue

1. President’s Report 2. Secretary’s Notes 3. Flying Stars 4. Member stories - 5. Wing Tips 6. Destinations 7. Radial engines

Secretary’s Notes

New Flying Members:

Luke Teong, David Owen, Bertus Joubert, Joffre Joubert, Jordan Samwell, Ben Taylor, Stephen Standley, Dan Romero, Kobus Swanepoel, Kris Ellingsen (returning), Seb Forsyth, Tim Newlands, Willem Punt.

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If I’ve missed anyone, apologies for the omission. Welcome to you all! We currently have approx. 88 members renewed and new this year. There are some 23 members outstanding from last year, and 13 resigned It has been good to see some of the old members back flying, but we need more flying hours on both aircraft. Cheers and have fun up there

Peter Taylor

Flying Stars This item recognises the members who have contributed most to recent utilisation of our aircraft from January to March.

January CYQ KXW

Bernie Nelson 3.5

Duggan Caleb 3.5

Derek Swiatek 2.3

Dean Andrew Clark 1.8

Erik Lichter 2.2

Andrew Eldridge 1.3

Peter Kneale 1.1

Phil Schwan 1.1

February CYQ KXW

Bertus Joubert 3.5

Benjamin Taylor 3.4

Jordan Samwell 2.9

Andrew Peterson 5.8

Bernie Nelson 3.3

Brett Birkbeck 1.3

March CYQ KXW

Bertus Joubert 2.1

Luke Teong 2.1

Bernie Nelson 1.9

Leanne Mckenzie 1.5

Erik Lichter 2.5

Robert van Hamersveld 2.0

Mark S Dawson 1.7

We have a great fleet, so please make the most of it!

Rottnest Island Easter Bun Run 2015

By Rob van Hamersveld

If any Curtin Member has not done a Rottnest Island Bun Run which is always held on a Good Friday, I suggest that you give it a go. It is a fund raiser for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and if you organise a second "crew member", then the costs will be reduced and still having a great time socialising with other aviators. This year we had a total of 20 registered aircraft participating in this event (even from Murray Field) which was a great turnout. The morning commenced at 0800 so that all participating aircraft could be pre-flighted in time before the brief scheduled for 0900. This year's brief was conducted by Andrew Eldridge, together with his briefing notes which covers all areas of operational procedures, arrivals and departures at Rottnest as well as all safety aspects (an essential part of any briefing) to be aware of should things not quite go to plan. This year we saw a very good line up of aircraft ranging from Cessnas, Pipers , a Partenavia and a couple of Mooneys .

Aircraft line up at YRTI

CYQ parked up with other aircraft and their crews

Our aircraft was CYQ and this year I was fortunate to have my younger brother Joe with his granddaughter as my passengers and myself as

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PIC for the Bun Run flight, so it was a great mix of people and aircraft heading for the "overseas" destination. Traditionally now, Jandakot Holdings and Rottnest Island Board waive all landing fees for all aircraft participating in the Bun Run and any "fees" incurred would be donated to the Royal Flying Doctor Service which no doubt has evacuated and saved many a life from the island and elsewhere. So with the contributions paid, my passengers strapped in, we were off with our departure on RWY 06L at 0955.

Some of the bun sampling crews

Fremantle Golf Course appeared in no time and we were soon traversing the sea passage across to Rottnest. Our listening watch had RW09 as the active runway and abeam Garden Island, the calls were getting very busy but managed our base call position to slot in behind an aircraft who was already established on finals. We rolled through to the parking area and were marshalled onto the grassed area adjacent to taxiway Charlie. Once our aircraft was secured, it was off on a pleasant walk to the bakery. I tell you, this is not a good spot to be if you are on a diet as the choice of pastries, pies, pasties and sausage rolls are endless.

Some happy pie samplers

The buns were purchased as per our order requests and by the time Joe and I picked up our bun order, our group had cleaned out the bakery's entire stock. The bun order totalled thirty dozen, so they are a popular product. A total $1000.00 was raised for this wonderful service. The coffees were great and we all sat around under the shady Morton Bay Fig trees and chatted with other crews with my passengers tucking into a steak and pepper pie each with their coffees.

Overhead Thomson Bay (not a mooring spot left!!)

All too soon, it was time to head back to our respective destinations as some came from Murray Field, so we walked back to the airstrip and after a quick fuel dip and oil check we departed on RWY 09. With bit of time to spare, I decided to make a right turn and tracked to the West End and across the northern coast to Bathurst Point to give my passengers a scenic look at Rottnest and we were well rewarded with the colour of the ocean and lakes. Rottnest Island is still a great destination and even with the high landing fees there and if you

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share a flight with other pilots, the costs are still reasonable.

Rob van Hamersveld

Wing Tips (The dreaded crosswind) There are many pilots, both student or qualified, who have special difficulties when confronted by crosswind conditions. All of us at one time or another, have been intimidated by a crosswind. It has turned our normally smooth landings into untidy, uncomfortable (and often embarrassing) arrivals. This, apart from the physical unpleasantness of a landing gone astray, is also confidence-eroding long after the technical details of the experience have faded away. In the landing the elements of a good approach, a gentle round out, holding off until the landing attitude is achieved, touching down main wheels first and maintaining runway centreline, must all still be present in the crosswind. Crosswind technique is no more than these conventional requirements with a couple of minor adjustments to ensure directional control.

Crabbing in on finals

The approach is normal - except the nose has to be pointed into wind and the aircraft "crabbed" down the final leg, in order to avoid being blown off the approach path which in effect the aircraft is now flying sideways relative to the ground. Clearly, we cannot land sideways as this can damage our undercarriage, so now on short finals, rudder is applied to align our aircraft to the runway centreline. For example, if the crosswind is from the left, you will need to apply right rudder input. This is no more than you would do in a

normal landing whether there is crosswind or not, you always have to keep the aircraft pointing straight down the runway and you use rudder to do this. Now don't succumb to the common error of diverting attention elsewhere during this part of the landing phase, as once you relax rudder pressure, you will "weather cock" into wind again and you will land sideways. Once directional control is maintained with rudder, the wind coming from the left will want to blow us to the right, so now we apply a small amount of aileron into wind (in the case of wind from the left), we apply left aileron causing the aircraft to roll slightly to the left and hold it in position. What we are effectively doing is sideslipping, but we are better off not thinking of it in those terms, because during the landing, the ground is the most influential visual stimulus. You do not appear to be side slipping relative to the ground. As a general rule for the average crosswind of up to 10 knots, it is 90 percent rudder and 10 percent aileron control. You must have the aircraft straight and you must keep rudder pressure to do this. You only need enough aileron input to prevent the aircraft from drifting across the runway with the wind. If you apply too much aileron, you will drift into the wind.

Time to kick in right rudder and do the aileron bit

The rudder and aileron inputs must be maintained while carrying out your normal hold off and touch-down and in this case, the windward wheel will touch down first followed immediately by the other. During the landing roll, you cannot relax and you must keep straight with rudder as the aircraft decelerates, slowly turn the ailerons further into the wind as this will assist you with directional control. Always keep in mind that you are making a normal landing with a couple of added tasks to

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maintain direction. So, if you are not quite up to scratch with crosswind landings, do some practice air work and if you still are not quite getting it right, grab an instructor and spend some valuable time boosting up your confidence.

Rob van Hamersveld

Destinations In this and future issues, we will be doing an article on a destination fly-away and will generally pick areas that are within reasonable distances from Jandakot. If you fly with another pilot/member then the costs will work out quite reasonable. Destination: Jandakot-Northam-White Gum Farm-Beverley-Dale River-Jandakot.

Area Map

Contact details

680 Cameron Road

York, WA. 6302

Phone: 0408 906 520

Email: info@whitegumfarm.com.au

The Flying School

Sky Sports Flying School

CFI Gordon Marshall

Phone 0419942645

Email: info@microlight.com.au

Airfield coordinates 31 52.026’E 116 56.342’E

Elevation is 1020Ft WAC 3351 YWGM Freq

126.7

White Gum Farm Strip/facilities layout

Gordon Marshall is the CFI RA-Aus at White Gum Farm and Gary Sargeant is the property owner and events co-ordinator. It pays to give Gordon a courtesy phone call with your intentions and he will advise you that the preferred runway will be 09/27.

RWY 09 White Gum Farm

White Gum Farm host several annual events, from National Fly-ins, Air Shows, to Caravan Club weekends and Cycling clubs that ride out all the way from Perth and has good accommodation with 8 cabins and a self contained cabin.

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Overhead the hanger and accommodation facilities

So, for a great day out, we suggest tracking to Northam (YNTM) via Armadale departure, land at YNTM, grab a cab and have a nice coffee at the Rivers Edge Cafe. You can either buy your lunch there or head for the Northam Bakery who do great pies and pastries, then head back to the strip and head for White Gum Farm and have your lunch in their pleasant surroundings. The kettle is always on when you get there.

YNTM Airstrip

From there, you track for Beverley (YBEV) and land. If you plan it right, the Beverley Soaring Society operates gliders on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. There are no landing fees at YBEV and pilots are most welcome to see the gliding operations in action.

Beverley gliding ops

If you would like to fly a glider, the club offers trial flights starting at $180.00 for 20-30 minutes. If two or more flights are booked on the one booking, there is an accumulative $10.00 discount ie: one flight is $180.00, two flights $170.00 ea to a maximum of three flights per booking at $160.00 each. To make an enquiry or booking, please contact the club's booking officer on 0407 385 361. From YBEV, you can track back to Jandakot via Dale River (YDVE), Byford and Forrestdale Lake. This fly away destination will give you some cross country flight experience and it is all relatively close by, so it has the potential for a great day out at reasonable cost and it keeps up the hours on our club aircraft.

Rob van Hamersveld Starting and take off with the wonderful radial powered aircraft With today's modern aircraft engines, we tend to take for granted how easy we have it when we actually go through our start up procedures , it is just a matter of priming, flick on the start mode on the ignition and away she goes.

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Douglas AD-6 Skyraider

R-3350 18 cylinder engine Radial Starting (3350 engine on an AD-6 Skyraider) Be sure you drain both the sumps. Look out the left side of the oily cockpit canopy and notice a very nervous person holding a huge fire bottle. Nod to this person. 1. Crack throttle about one-quarter of an inch. 2. Battery on 3. Mags on 4. Fuel boost on 5. Hit starter button (The four bladed 13' 6" prop will start a slow turn) 6. Begin to bounce your finger on top of the primer button. a. This act requires finesse and style. It is much like a ballet performance. The engine must be seduced and caressed into starting. 7. Act one will begin: Belching, banging, rattling, backfiring, spluttering, flame and black smoke from the exhaust shooting out about three feet. (Fire bottle person is very pale and has the nozzle at the ready position) 8. When the engine begins to "catch" on the primer. Move the mixture to full rich. The flames from the exhaust will stop and white smoke will come out. (Fire bottle guy relaxes a bit) You will hear a wonderful throaty roar that is like music to the ears.. a. Enjoy the macho smell of engine oil, hydraulic fluid and pilot sweat.

Restored cockpit on AD-6 Skyraider 9. Immediately check the oil pressure and hydraulic gages. 10. The entire aircraft is now shaking and shuttering from the torque of the engine and RPM of prop. a. The engine is an 18 cylinder R-3350 that develops 2,700 HP. 11. Close cowl flaps to warm up the engine for taxi. 12. Once you glance around at about 300 levers, gauges and gadgets, call the tower to taxi to the duty runway. Take off in the AD-6 1. Check both magnetos 2. Exercise the prop pitch 3. Cowl flaps open. 4. Check oil temp and pressure. 5. Crank 1.5 degrees right rudder trim to help your right leg with the torque on takeoff. 6. Tell the tower you are ready for the duty runway. 7. Line the bird up and lock the tail wheel for sure. 8. Add power slowly because the plane (with the torque of the monster prop and engine power definitely wants to go left). 9. NEVER add full power suddenly! There is not enough rudder in the entire world to hold it straight. 10. Add more power and shove in right rudder till your leg begins to tremble. 11. Expect banging, belching and an occasional manly fart as you roar down the runway at full power. (I have found that the engine can make similar noises) 12. Lift the tail and when it "feels right" pull back gently on the stick to get off the ground.

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13. Gear up 14. Adjust the throttle for climb setting 15. Ease the prop back to climb RPM 16. Close cowl flaps and keep an eye on the cylinder head temp. 17. Adjust the power as needed as you climb higher or turn on the super charger. Foot note: This article was taken from an email posting in a 2010 Eastern Air lines newsletter.