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December, 2019. Editor: John Chambers

Club Executive

� Club postal address:

P O Box 726

Noarlunga Centre 5168

WEBSITE: http://www.aldingaaeroclub.org.au

End of Year Events “Round-up”. The club wound up 2019 with two events your editor was unable to attend, commencing with the annual visit by the Honourable Company of Air Pilots on the 16th November for their Spot Landing Comp, and the club’s Christmas lunch on December 1st. From all reports both were successful (despite my absence!). Although the RAAF’s air show on 9th & 10th of November was not a formal club event, two of our pilots did manage to gain approval to fly in to Edinburgh for the event, carrying a number of our members. And it was quite a show! Photos below are of the Airbus A400, a Cessna A-37 “Dragonfly,” the DH “Dragon”, the Roulettes PC12’s and a CAC “Wirraway”.

A big crowd of spectators, good weather and plenty to see, on the ground and in the air.

Looking forward to the next one, whenever that may be.

Another Commemorative Flight. Last month the club assisted in a commemoration of the first London to Australia flight back in 1919. I was reminded of another early flight, the Victorian Centenary Air Race from London to Melbourne in 1934. That race was won by a DH.88 ’Comet’ (pictured) taking 71 hours exactly for the journey. In 2nd place was a DC2 which took 90 hours 13 minutes. A replica DC2 flew the same route to commemo-

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David Ellis President 8386 1133

Evan John Vice President 0408 804 289

Steve McGuiness Secretary 0412 773 081

Philip John Treasurer 8381 4158

Owen Crees Club Captain 0414 538 542

John Chambers Newsletter Editor 8391 4720

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rate the original race. On a wall in our club room is a framed copy of a newspaper article, published in 2007 which mentions this flight and reports the memories of the original race which one of our members, the late Fred Giltrap had. Fred died in June, 2007, leaving a sum of $25,000 to our club. This is an edited version of the article -

The flight of a DC2 replica across the world to commemorate the Victorian Centenary Air Race took Victor Harbor man, Fred Giltrap on a trip down memory lane. As he watched the present day landing at Laverton, Fred recalled listening on the crystal set to reports of the original flight. And, in his album, complied during his days in the Air Force, he has a photograph of the original plane which completed a hazardous journey to take second place in the event. Flown by Parmenter & Moll, the DC2 was forced down at Albury where it landed in a race course. All the residents came to the site and put on their headlights to guide the plane down, and the next day dragged it out of the mud to allow it to continue the journey. A DH Comet, flown by Scott & Black from England won the air race, which took place two years before Fred joined the Air Force and went to Laverton to train. He gathered a memorable collection of aircraft working there. He cannot remember a time when he was not interested in planes. He first flew when he was 12 years old, paying one pound for a 10 minute trip and a certificate to prove it. Fred became the youngest glider pilot at 16 when he joined the South Australian Gliding Club. In those days, the gliders were made of wood, cloth & piano wire, and they were shot into motion by a catapult-type contraption, unlike today when they are towed up by another plane & released. Fred helped to build the glider which broke the world record for flying time in the nineteen-fifties, the pilot following an eagle for one and a half hours. He joined the Air Force in 1936 at the age of 24 and served in No.1 & No.2 squadrons.

Flamethrower Drone?

For that hard-to-shop-for pyromaniac, ready for Christmas, will be the TF-19 WASP Flamethrower drone from a company called - what else - Throwflame! Priced at $1499, the TF-19 has drawn the attention of the FAA which reminds would-be fire drone operators that weaponizing a drone is illegal. “Operating a drone with such an item may re-sult in significant harm to a person and to your bank account. It is a violation of Section 363 of the FAA reauthorization Act of 2018. Operators are subject to civil penalties up to $25,000 for each violation, unless the opera-tor has received specific authorization from the Administrator of the FAA to conduct the opera-tion”. Dangerous weapons, says the FAA, means any item that is used for, or is readily capable of, causing death or serious bodily injury. Given that it shoots a stream of flaming gasoline from a one-gallon tank for up to 100 seconds, the TF-19 appears to be easily up to the task of causing the afore-mentioned bodily injury and, if plain gasoline is too tame, the company also sells a napalm additive.

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Electric Beaver Makes First Flight. Canadian seaplane company Harbour Air announced that its modified all-electric DHC-2 ‘Beaver’ has successfully completed its first flight. The six-

passenger “ePlane”, which the company is calling the world’s first all-electric commercial aircraft, took off from the Fraser River at the Harbour Air Seaplanes’ terminal in Richmond, British Columbia on Tuesday 10th December, piloted by the company’s CEO and founder, Greg McDougall. For the all-electric conversion, the 60 year old Beaver was outfitted with the 750 hp (560 watt) magniX magni500 propulsion system. Harbour Air and magniX say they now intend to begin work on the certification and approval process for the propulsion system and the aircraft retrofit. Harbour Air, which currently operates up to 300 daily scheduled flights, scenic tours, adventure packages and private flights with a fleet of more than 40 aircraft, intends to convert all of its seaplanes to electric power.

The “Oyster Express” (This article provided by Doug & Terry - Ed.)

Tuesday 10th December’s ‘Old Farts’ meeting turned out to be lucky for Dean Johnson from American River, K.I. Dean had flown over to Aldinga for an annual inspection of his PA-28-235, VH-EVL. As he came into the clubroom, he announced that he had left his cargo of Kangaroo Island oysters in his hangar freezer. AAC’s syndicate-owned Jabiru “Spindrift” had just completed a circuit and Dean asked if we would fly over to pickup the cargo as EVL wouldn’t be ready for some time later in the day. Doug Ransom & Terry Cahalan took “Spindrift” on the rescue mission and delivered the goodies to a grateful owner. Dean has welcomed Aldinga Aero Club members at fly-ins to his property on many occasions in the past and it was good that we were able to repay his hospitality.

U.S. Air Force Tests Robot Pilot. The USAF has flown a Cessna 206 with a robotic pilot it says can essentially turn an aircraft into a drone and then get turned back into a manned aircraft. The ROBOpilot flew a two-hour autono-mous test flight at Utah’s Dugway Proving Ground handling take-off, flight manoeuvres and land-ing without human intervention. “Imagine being able to rapidly and affordably convert a general aviation aircraft, like a Cessna or Piper, into an unmanned aerial vehicle, having it fly a mission autonomously, and then returning it back to its original manned configuration,” said Dr. Alok Das, senior scientist with the Air Force Research Lab’s Centre for Rapid Innovation, in a statement. “All of this is achieved without making permanent modifications to the aircraft.” The machine mimics human interaction with the yoke and pedals, along with all the knobs and switches on the panel, even watching the gauges. At the same time, the system uses sensors, like GPS and an Inertial Measurement Unit - essentially a way for a machine to locate itself in space without GPS - for situational awareness and information gathering. A computer analyses these details to make decisions on how to best control the flight.

Definition : Cashtration (n) : The act of buying a house which renders the subject financially

impotent for an indefinite period of time.

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FAA Fines Boeing for Knowingly Installing Faulty Slat Tracks. The FAA proposes a $3.9 million fine against Boeing for knowingly installing non-conforming components on about 133 B737’s, includ-ing the troubled MAX models. In a state-ment, the agency said Boeing “failed to adequately oversee its suppliers to ensure they complied with the company’s quality assurance system.” The FAA said Boeing’s QA failure resulted in the installation of slat tracks weakened by hydrogen embrittlement that occurred during cadmium-titanium plating of the parts. The FAA contends that Boeing knowingly submitted aircraft for final FAA airworthiness certification after determin-ing that the parts didn’t meet its own strength requirements. The slat tracks were processed by Southwest United Industries (SUI), a Boeing third-tier supplier. After learning that Boeing certified 48 aircraft with the faulty tracks between August 16 and October 9, 2018, and an additional 85 aircraft during the autumn of 2018 and spring of 2019, the FAA issued an AD in June 2019. It mandated inspections to identify the faulty tracks. FAA claims the identification of the defective parts was hindered because SUI did not apply a protective coating over the part identification mark that is required to be displayed on the slat tracks. As a result those part identification marks became either obscured of invisible, making it difficult to identify the affected parts. Boeing has 30 days to respond to the FAA’s civil penalty proposal of $3.9 million.

10 Years Ago. The December 2009 issue of Go-Round reported on the collision of two satellites. The chance of two satellites finding each other in space is, well, astronomical! But a “dead” Russian satellite and a perfectly functional Iridium communication satellite collided at an altitude of 790 kilometers , turning them into about 600 pieces of orbital space junk. The Russian satellite was launched in 1993 and had been “dead” for at least 10 years.

(Wonder if there’s been any other instances like this since 2009? - Ed.)

Diary Dates. Sunday 5th January - Bid 2020 a welcome by inviting a friend to join you at the club. There may even be some scenic flying going on and the BBQ will be hot. Sunday February 2nd - Fly or drive to Hutton Vale Farm in the beautiful Barossa for lunch. Details TBA. Wednesday 12th February - Committee meeting, 1930 hours at the clubroom. Sunday 1st March - “Sky Writing” comp. Pilot briefing 1000 hours. BYO BBQ lunch and socializing from 1200 hours. Sunday 8th March - Tyabb Air Show, hosted by the Peninsula Aero Club at Tyabb, Vic. Information and tickets available at tyabbairshow.com. Price discount available up to and including 31st December, 2019.

Season Greetings. Enjoy the holiday season by flying and driving safely and courteously. Go-Round needs to keep all its readers in 2020.