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Tips for landing on grass runways (from a bush pilot in Indonesia)

We have touched on soft field or grass runway landings in the past (see here and here), but Matt Dearden, the British pilot behind the Bush Flying Diaries, Indonesia blog, must deal with slippery and slopping grass or dirt landing strips on a daily basis. In a recent post, Matt made the observation that worst kinds of grass airstrip he encounters are the pure grass ones grown on soil/dirt because the locals tend to build them with a pronounced crown with a slope on either side along with a ditch to catch the water and any wayward aircraft – especially those with a tailwheel.

That means you must land in the middle of the airstrip (who’s condition is next to impossible to judge from the air) and Matt noted that the proper technique is something you have to judge depending on:

…. how fast you’re going, how much runway is left and how close to the edge you’re drifting. Braking the opposite wheel can help but if it’s really slippery you sometimes have no option but to add power and get some airflow over the tail to help pull the aircraft back to the centre.

Matt added that the fun continues even when you are at taxi speed because a fully laden Porter can weight is 2660kgs and its easy to get stuck in any mud if you don’t keep the aircraft moving while the hardest part will be making a 180 degree turn.

Likewise, getting ready for take off is also not easy – especially in a tailwheel and on a slope because you can get stuck just as easy while trying to maneuver or if you stop.  Obviously there is a bush pilot trick to handle that, but Matt wrote:

It’s quite a curious feeling when all three wheels are sliding sideways and the only way to stop it is to add power and turn into the slide.

In other words and even if you aren’t taking off and landing on remote grass landing strips in the jungles of Papua, it might be worth it to check out Matt’s blog for tips about landing on grass runways in rainy Britain.

The Taylorcraft Auster: Britain’s forgotten wartime aircraft

When you think of British aviation during World War II, Spitfires are probably the fist aircraft that come to mind but the Gympie Times in Queensland has recently brought our attention to a nearly as important but forgotten British aircraft from the war: The Taylorcraft Auster. Unlike the famous Spitfire, Taylorcraft Austers weren’t used as fighters but they played just as important of a role as British military liaison and observation aircraft File:Auster.aop9.tw511.arp.jpgas they would routinely brave both enemy and friendly fire to help lay battlefront phone lines, map and plot the allied advance, evacuate wounded soldiers and photograph enemy troop movements. Moreover, the aircraft saw extensive action in Normandy during D-Day.

Gympie aviation buff Chris de Vere happens to own one registered as VH-ABA – a registration that was previously held by a huge Sunderland flying boat that was sold to Qantas in 1938 and later scrapped (Hence, the aircraft is painted in Quantas colours). However, the article is a bit confusing as it calls his aircraft an Auster Autocar which (according to Wikipedia) was actually built after the war ended as a touring aircraft but a quick look up of the registration ID VH-ABA reveals that the aircraft in Gympie is an Auster AOP.V built in 1943.

However, owning an old aircraft is both a love hate relationship as de Vere says:

A problem is that getting parts has become damned near impossible.

It is love at first sight, but hate when you realise all the blokes who know how to work on it are retired or dead.

The last person to work on it was in his 80s.

He also commented that there are less than a dozen still flying.

Auster Aircraft Limited itself only existed in Leicestershire from 1938 to 1961 when it merged with Beagle Aircraft Limited which in turn was put into receivership in 1969 after it had become government controlled and needed more financial assistance. Auster models would also be extensively used after the war in the UK and British colonies for a variety of purposes with the name finally being dropped in 1968.

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Last Cold War Vulcan bomber to be grounded

Next year will be the last time to see Britain’s only flying Cold War Vulcan bomber fly as the aircraft is being grounded in part due to soaring restoration costs according to reports in the Daily Mail, This is Lincolnshire and several other papers (the official press release is here). Since its restoration back in 2007, Vulcan XH558 has been seen by more than ten million people in over 60 different locations while three million alone turned out to see her during the 2012 Diamond Jubilee season.

However, the Vulcan XH558 had also been given a technically determined number of flying hours that will be exhausted next year with the Yorkshire Post noting that it already costs an estimated £2m a year to keep the aircraft airborne and that it will need another £200,000 improvement in 2013. Hence, Vulcan to the Sky Trust has decided not to ask its contributors to take the risk of funding another expensive restoration.

Likewise, Engineering director Andrew Edmondso also told in the Harborough Mail that when suppliers close or lose the ability to remanufacture or refurbish key components, it can be prohibitively expensive to re-source them and that:

We know, for example, that the set-up costs to remanufacture a main wheel are more than £70,000. If the approved engineering drawings are no longer available, it can be practically impossible given any amount of money.

Moreover and from the start of the 2014 season, it would be unlikely that the charity could accommodate any engine failures plus the aircraft’s set of engines would be out of life with no more airworthy engines available while refurbishment would be both difficult and costly.

GolfHotelWhiskey.com: Help return the Vulcan XH558 to flight...

No word on when or where Vulcan XH558’s last flight will be plus the Vulcan to the Sky Trust still needs to raise £400,000 within months to fund its winter service. In the mean time, check out the following videos of the Vulcan XH558 in action:

 

Why aerobatics in a GA aircraft is a bad idea

In case the thought of performing an aerobatic maneuver with your aircraft has ever crossed your mind, a recent post by Ron for his House of Rapp blog will have you thinking otherwise. Besides the the fact that there are regulations against such activities, Ron noted the practical considerations and assumed that a pilot would be flying a Cirrus SR-22.

For starters, he pointed out that non-acro planes like the Cirrus SR-22 will tend to have non-symmetrical airfoils that are not designed to fly aerobatics. They will also tend to have slower roll rates as well as lower structural integrity under high G loads and less control authority. However, Ron also noted three well known aerobatic pilots who perform or performed aerobatics in non-acro planes but he also quickly added that:

Sean Tucker will tell you that the Columbia may not recover from spins of more than one or 2 turns. Duane Cole said the Bonanza (in which he did inverted ribbon cuts) had barely enough elevator authority for the maneuver, and it required incredible strength to hold the nose up far enough for inverted level flight. Bob Hoover tailored his performance to maneuvers the Shrike could do — he’ll tell you he avoided many aerobatic maneuvers because of the airplane’s limitations.

Ron then noted that negative Gs will send stuff flying about the cabin – including the pilot if he or she is not tightly secured by the seatbelt. Moreover, the engine of a general aviation aircraft is not set up for fuel and oil flow under negative Gs which could also move the entire engine/prop on the engine mount.

Ron ended his post by noting that:

I could go on, but suffice it to say that the more I learn about aerobatics, the less I would want to do them in a non-aerobatic aircraft. Sure, if performed perfectly, you might be just fine. But any unusual attitude is going to be far more difficult — if not outright impossible — to recover from.

In other words, leave the aerobatic stunts to professional aerobatic pilots flying the right type of aircraft.

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How to fly safely at night

Even if you do not intend to fly at night, winter is well underway in the Northern latitudes meaning the days are shorter and the nights are longer. Hence, a recent post written by Max Trescott for his Trends Aloft site is well worth reading.

He began his post by noting that night will increase the shortcomings of a pilot’s senses and perceptions – making flying at night different from flying during the day. He also noted that when flying at night, the sky will tend to blend in with the ground – thus obscuring the horizon. Therefore, it may be extremely difficult to almost impossible to safely fly at night without having solid instrument flying skills.

Max also wrote that from his informal surveys of general aviation pilots who attend his seminars, he estimates that 5% of their flight hours are logged at night while 21% of all fatal accidents in the USA occur at night. Moreover and in San Francisco where conditions are often foggy and the terrain is mountainous, almost 50% of all fatal accidents occur at night.

Max then pointed out that most night accidents will occur when descending for a landing as pilots will attempt to fly in a long and straight-in approach to the runway and instead end up flying a curved path that goes below the approach path – ultimately leading to a crash just short of the runway. To avoid this, Max recommends a pilot should maintain a safe altitude to the airport and once there, fly a normal traffic pattern.

In addition, Max noted that pilots will often and unknowingly descend and crash not long after takeoff. To avoid this, Max recommends to crosscheck your instruments often to make sure that you are actually climbing and not inadvertently descending.

At the end of his post, Max wrote that night flying can be safely done but it will require some planning and in the worst case scenario, a willingness to make a 180° turn.