Wellesborne Mountford

After two weather cancellations, I finally got to fly today. The weather was not perfect, but do-able. It was one of those murky, high-pressure, very cold, little wind type deals we see in the UK. I planned to fly Rob to Wellesborne Mountford, a very short flight from Gloucestershire, to see the ‘fast-taxi capable’ Vulcan bomber based there.

I checked the weather there on their excellent website as they only have one runway in use at weekends, and I wanted to know what crosswind I would be facing, if any. Turned out to be 030/07, so it would be 36 with a slight crosswind component from the right. I called them for PPR as per the plates, but they seemed to just want my details in advance.

I bumped into a few fellow Flyer Forumites in Cotswold Aero Club, Hogster, Johnm and Timmy P. It is one of those surreal moment when you meet people you have been ‘talking to’ via a bulletin board only – ‘Hello, I am Karg the destroyer of worlds, you must be Mekon emperor of the seventh quadrant!’ – well not quite, at least we have semi-sensible forum names – I am Steve H – original huh? Anyway, I was put to shame as one was going to Calais and the other two were going to Gamston. Here’s me only scuttling along 20 minutes to Wellesborne, oh well, plan the flight and fly the plan!

I checked the plane out and Rob helped me pull it out of the hangar past the Citation jets. I tried the normal startup routine, and again and again and again. It was very cold and had been for the previous few days and no one had flown her for a week, so she was very cold and ratty! I primed and tried again, a splutter then dead. I carefully primed some more. By now I was worried in case I had flooded the engine, but no smell of fuel, so more priming. Eventually she caught and the battery seemed none the worse for the experience. Taxi to the pumps to put some fuel in, called for clearance and we had the ‘long march of death’ around to C1 for 09 – oh well, I needed a little while to get the oil up to temperature anyway!

After power checks I was cleared for take off for the short flight to Wellesborne. I climbed to 2100’ and it started to get very murky, at 2200’ I was almost in poorly defined murky clouds, so I dropped to 2000’ and dinked left to swing north around the Cotswold ridge rather than head straight over it. Yes, it was murky up there, although lateral visibility was OK, they were saying 10km or more on the ATIS, but I can only assume they had not been flying as it seemed a little less than that. In no time at all, I was switching from Gloster to Wellesborne and calling for airfield information (it is only a 20 minute run). As expected, they were giving 36 with left had circuits and the wind was as expected.

I carried out a standard overhead join, slotted into the traffic already in the circuit and swung her onto final. As usual, I left myself a bit high, a bit of sideslip took care of that. A bit fast, but then I do want to land a bit long, so I’ll bleed that off with a longer flare. Over the numbers and rounding out, hold off and off and off and off. We are heavy, but this is taking a while. Little bit of crosswind, dab of rudder to straighten and we touch – and stay touched. A little into wind aileron, dance on the peddles until she is down to taxi speed, yes, there we go. Well false modesty aside, that was about as good a landing as you can do in the RV – very smooth (I was of course to pay for this hubris later!).


G-GDRV parked up at Wellesborne

We parked up and dutifully trotted into the tower to pay. £15 landing fee and a friendly welcome. I asked about getting to the intact Vulcan bomber on the north west perimeter. They said if I had a hi-vis vest, we could walk along the taxiway. It was a good half mile and the wind (such as it was) made the sub-zero temperature feel a lot worse.


The mighty Avro Vulcan

We were happy to be in the lee of the mighty Vulcan. Sure enough, there were many volunteers at the Vulcan. They had one of the engine out for overhaul. They were very friendly and welcomed us in and chatted about the plane. I knew something about Vulcans, but of course not as much as them. I was surprised to learn that the engine did not have after-burners and that this was the later and more powerful Olympus 301 engined version.


One of the working Olympus 301 engines being serviced

We had a wander around and had a close up of one of the partially stripped engines. It is a real treat to see a real, running engine being overhauled, not some dead, lifeless hulk that has been dissected in a museum somewhere. I was surprised at how small it seemed.


Lovely clean turbine blades

I was grateful for the tour and offered a donation to a lady in one of the portakabins. She immediately offered us a trip into the crew compartment. That too was a treat. I was amazed at how cramped it was and what a truly lousy view the pilots had. It was the usual chaos of black panels and switches and dials scattered around seemingly at random – no digital stuff here, oh no! I thought the two London Underground tube train flexible hanging handles in the ceiling of the crew compartment said it all – period British pragmatism, hey if they work, stick them in there!


Possibly the most cluttered and worst designed panel ever

We made our way back, now quite cold, to the ‘new’ café. Well, it looks very much like to old café to me! Having said that, it is perfectly fine. There are normally a lot of locals that turn up with families for a fried breakfast and to watch the planes, which I think is an excellent thing. There is a great deck looking onto the airfield with tables etc., but no takers on a cold day like this. It would be a nice spot in the summer though.


The 'new' cafe - different from the 'old' cafe....err....how?

We didn’t hang around and soon mounted up for the return trip. The plane started first time as we taxied for the hold for 36. The tower again confirmed the noise abatement procedures as I lined up, applied power and started hopping eagerly along 36 (the plane was moving down the runway too!). Up we went and I turned onto 030 and glimpsed the green roofed building we were aiming for. Nicely on track. At 1200’ I turned left onto direct track back to Gloucester. I could still only manage 2100’, but that was fine.

Picked up the ATIS and called for rejoin. Got the expected standard overhead for 09 although the wind was a mild 030/05. I wasn’t sure why they hadn’t switched to runway 04, but I was OK with that wind. The circuit was quiet with only one other in as I called final. OK, a bit high and a bit fast. Slipped some of it off, but still a bit fast. Over the threshold aiming to land long, flared, a bit high though, felt her down, no real stall warner, we touched and I guess I knew what was going to happen. Now after my last landing which was really good, you would have thought the plane would say ‘Y’know Steve, that last one you did was really good, so I’ll let you off this one’ – but no. The RV has no such memory. I was punished with a bounce. As we were heading back up it is amazing how quickly you think. By the time we got to the top of the bounce and were about to come down a second time, I weighed up the pro’s and cons and thought that yes, I could control this mext one and land, but it would be messy and anyway, what is the hurry, so I pushed in the power and the engine and aircraft responded beautifully into a go around, as if to say to me ‘good decision, coz I was going to kick your ass if you tried anything else!’.

This was the first go around I have done for a few years, so probably long overdue anyway. I explained to Rob who was (or at least seemed to be) unconcerned. The second approach was better and my second landing was almost as good as the one at Wellesborne, certainly the plane seemed happy with it. What was it my PPL instructor used to say? ‘A good landing comes from a good approach’ – how true.

Taxied in and shut down. Rob help me put the plane away and we got it precisely into it’s tight slot first time with very few instructions.

Well all in all, poor weather but a really nice flight. It would be nice if the heater could be a little more efficient though. Loved seeing the Vulcan, well worth it for that alone.

Goddam weather!

For the second time in as many weeks, I tried for even a measly local or even circuits, but no dice!

The first Saturday, I called off a local due to high and gusty winds. Just not worth chancing it in a taildragger.

Last weekend was cold and certainly a very ‘high pressure murk’, but I figured I could at least managed some circuits. I got to the airfield and the weather was considerably worse than where I live, with an indeterminate cloud base (it was that murky), probably 3k visibility and light drizzle / rain. That and the temperature on the ground was only just above freezing, even 2000’ altitude (if you could get it without going IMC which was doubtful) the temperature would be sub-zero, add to that visible moisture and you have all the recipe for airframe icing. So I alreadt made the call to myself that I was not flying, even

I decided to at least call into the local flying club to console myself with a coffee before heading back home. As if to confirm my appraisal, I heard the CFI come into the next room after having been out with a student. He was talking to someone in the next room and said ‘take a look at the icing on the plane (he just flew in on)’.

No contest, I am out of here, even for circuits. On my way out, I passed another pilot cheerfully coming in with full kit. I asked in jest if he was flying anywhere. He looked surprised and said ‘Yes, why not?’. I just replied ‘I hope you like icing’ and walked on. I know different people have different attitudes to risk, but icing? That is one thing I would NOT mess with! While I know he has a lightweight instrument rating, I also know his aircraft does not have any de-icing equipment. I am sure he came to the right decision.

So I shall be trying for a third time for quick flight next weekend. Such are the joys of flying in the UK in the winter!

AVGAS and Lyconosaurus

I’m not a whiner, BUT!

In the UK, the price of normal petrol / gasoline has risen swiftly and inexorably like a flood tide from an eye-watering £0.85 pence a litre (yes, litre not gallon!) as recently as January 2009 to an unbelievable £1.30 now (January 2011) and a predicted £1.50 a litre by this summer. All of this is incredibly bad news for anyone that drives a car or rides a motorbike, but these prices seem like a bargain when comparing them to AVGAS fuel prices for light aircraft.


UK Gasoline Prices - per litre

Light aircraft can use a variety of different fuels, depending on the engine(s) being used.

AVGAS

The vast majority of light aircraft are still powered by legacy air-cooled petrol engine made mainly by either Lycoming or Continental (there are a few smaller suppliers). These are amazing beasts in this day and age and the technology used amazes non-aviation aware people, especially those who know a bit about cars. They are literally built using 1930’s technology that has remained completely unchanged to the present day. The engine in my own aircraft is typical. It is a Lycoming 0-320 that delivers a peak of 160 horse power.

The ‘320’ signifies the ‘swept volume’ of the four gigantic cylinders as expressed in cubic inches. Yes, you got that right, four cylinders and a swept volume of 320 cubic inches. For those more familiar with engine capacity expressed in litres, that’s 5.2 litres. Yes, a four cylinder 5.2 LITRE engine that delivers a whopping 160 horse power (not!)! Each cylinder normally has a mere two spark plugs per cylinder with the spark being created by two sets of magnetos – yes, magnetos! One set of mags drive one of the plugs in each cylinder and the second drives the second etc. Actually not such a silly arrangement as it means that if the battery dies, the engine doesn’t care and carries on as happy as Larry. If one set of mags fails, there is a second which continues to run the engine, albeit usually at a slightly lower power level.

What these engine deliver is a very slow revving engine that directly drives the propeller rpm (let’s ignore VP props for now), normally in the cruise of between 2000 – 2400 rpm with a maximum of 2600 rpm. If it turned a normal prop any faster, the tips of the propeller would break the sound barrier and make an incredible noise but more importantly create a lot of supersonic and transonic turbulence which would seriously impact the lift or ‘bite’ of the propeller and therefore it’s ability to pull / push the plane along. An engine revving at these speeds means that you don’t need the added mechanical complexity (the more stuff you have the more points of failure there are) and as important the added weight of an rpm reduction gearbox.

As it is old (for that, read ‘ancient’) technology, these engines must use a high octane leaded gasoline, also called AVGAS. This is 100 octane (also referred to as 100LL for ‘low lead’ to keep the green campaigners happy). This is the sort of fuel that we used to see at the pumps for cars before unleaded fuel became all the rage, albeit for a much higher octane. Now the problem with this is that apart from the miniscule demands of the classic and vintage car market, there is no other commercial demand for high octane leaded fuel than to fuel these antique engines used mainly by private flyers for light aircraft (OK, and of course heavy WW2 warbirds that are still flying). So the market for AVGAS is tiny and producing it is an irritation for oil companies, so by the law of supply and demand, availability of AVGAS in Europe is not good (many French GA airfields run out every summer) and it is very expensive. We have just been hit with a huge hike and pump prices at my airfield are now £1.74 a litre. Given that we get through 25 – 30 litres an hour flying that hurts a lot! The smart money is on AVGAS in the UK being more than £2.00 a litre by the summer.


UK AVGAS Prices - PER LITRE!

By way of comparison with the vibrant US General Aviation industry, they too will tell you that they are staggering around under the burden of an AVGAS price of an eye-watering $5.00 a US Gallon. Now in case you aren’t good at doing conversions that is an exorbitant £0.83 a litre – wait a minute….. £0.83 pence a litre, ARE YOU KIDDING! That’s under half the UK price!!!! Small wonder there is little appetite in the US engine running on MOGAS or AVTUR!

MOGAS

This is just a clever-dicky name for the petrol / gasoline you put into your car. Now I know that it is really hard for a motorist to think that £1.30 for a litre of 95 octane unleaded is a bargain, but imagine if you had a car-type engine in your light aircraft. The fuel burn would be considerably less for about the same horse power (usually 15-20 litres an hour vs 25-30 litres an hour using AVGAS engines) and of course the price per litre would be one-third cheaper litre for litre and a whopping half to two-third cheaper when you also take into account the lower fuel burn for the same power!

The downside? Well, you basically have a modern car engine revving at 4500 rpm for peak efficiency, so you need a reduction gearbox and of course car engines don’t use magnetos, so you are tied to a battery, the battery dies, your engine stops – not nice if you are in the air at the time. Having said that, the engine itself is much smaller and lighter, reduction gearboxes are very reliable as are modern batteries, and you can carry two anyway. The other advantage is that they are water-cooled. So while that adds further addition weight, it means that you really don’t have to worry about engine over-heating at high power setting and low airspeeds (in the climb after take-off) or possible shock-cooling associated with low power settings and normal or high airspeeds (in the descent).

The good news is that there are such engines available in the GA world, they are called ‘Rotax’ engines. The downside is that they are relatively small engines aiming at the very light aircraft end of the market. The largets such engine is the Rotax 914 which can only pump out 115 horse power – so no good for our RV6 which really does need 160 horses. But then they are a measly 1.2 litre engine. Why or why can’t Rotax develop a similar 1.6 or even 2.0 litre engine, God knows there are plenty driving cars around!

Many people (including me) are looking at MOGAS Rotax type engine and the new VLA or ‘Light Sport’ type aircraft now emerging as a longer term and economically viable alternative to AVGAS Lyconosuarus engines.

AVTUR

This is the fuel used worldwide to power the jet and turbine engines you find in commercial aircraft all the way from a modest King Air to the awesome Airbus A380. It is basically a ‘diesel’ type fuel, also very similar / identical to kerosene / paraffin etc. The majority of military jet aircraft also use a kerosene type fuel, either JP5 or JP8. The major difference is that the military fuel types are more fire resistant that regular AVTUR (and unlike what you see in the movies, AVTUR is much less flammable than AVGAS or MOGAS).

GA AVTUR engines are basically nowhere in the USA, and after all, it is the USA who are still the main driver for the General Aviation industry. However, there are a few AVTUR engines around, makers like Thielert, Wilksch etc. Unfortunately, Thielert started with a converted 1.8 litre Mercedes diesel engine which only managed a measly 120hp. They were not a very well managed company and went into administration (from which they are now emerging). But quite a few people were ‘bitten’ by paying for expensive conversions to existing aircraft or buying expensive new Austrian Diamond aircraft (who had a ties up with Thielert) only to find parts impossible and warranties no-existant. But one bad experience should not surely sink what must be the true way forward for light piston engines? Any commercial airfield will have AVTUR and by worldwide convention, AVTUR is sold around the world tax and duty free and runs out at around £0.60 per litre.

Having said that, the UK have cottoned onto that and now have a tax on AVTUR if you use it for non-commercial flying. A tax of £0.54 a litre is mentioned, taking the price up to, but still short of MOGAS prices.

However, the fuel burn is very modest (about the same as a Rotax) and the fuel itself is less flammable. It is very widely available at virtually every airport. This has to be the future, certainly in Europe and it probably won’t be long before the US wake up and have to see that too, how much longer will oil companies continue to produce this hobby fuel of AVGAS?

So bottom line? I can’t wait to see the back of AVGAS and will be looking to switch ideally to an AVTUR single engine piston – now all I need is an established, reliable and proven AVTUR piston engine manufacturer!

Welsh Hills

First flight of the new year was early for me, on Sunday the 2nd. The weather was OK, overcast, but thin and high enough, probably 5000’nil wind and cold, probably around freezing.

I checked the plane out and pulled it carefully out of the hangar past the Citation jet, which was far enough back that I didn’t have to try to get under part of it’s wing. I decided to put a squirt of fuel in to be kind to the next person to fly as I was solo and so pretty light. At the pumps I bumped into another Flyer Forum member who I had ‘spoken’ to on the forum but not yet met – good to see you Hogster!



Power checks complete, I let the engine drone on to get the oil temperature up to the magic 40 degrees before I called ready for departure. It has been about 35 days since I last flew and I went through the motions and readouts I expected for both take-off and landing in my head, then I lined up. Power smoothly on and hold it straight down the runway. Tail up as the speed builds and hold her down as she hops about impatient for her natural element. I let her climb away after a gratifyingly short ground run. At the end of the runway, I put in the 10 degree right noise abatement turn and climb straight ahead as I plan to check out the Welsh Hill and Pen-y-Fan in the distance to the west.

I climb to 4500’ and level out. Top of climb checks and lean the engine to my preferred ‘economy cruise’ of around 2050 rpm and 20 litres an hour which gives 120 – 125kts. I navigate carefully between the two prohibited zones at Credenhill and Madley, near Hereford (both of which are SAS training areas that they are understandably protective of) using both GPS and the prominent ground feature of the disused airfield at Madley.



The Welsh Hills are still somewhat snow-covered, unlike the rest of the countryside where it melted a few days ago. It looks like the snow (or deep frost) is carefully following the 1500’ contour line. I close in on Hay on Wye and head towards the peak of Pen-y-Fan (much beloved of Paratroopers and SAS wannabes). It looks beautiful in the heavy frosting and I am amazed at the number of hikers up on the hills today. I have a quick look for G-TOMS, a PA38 that made a forced landing near Pen-y-Fan a couple of weeks ago, but cannot spot it, although I am sure it is still there (and is I understand, a real ‘attraction’ for hill walkers and mountain-bikers). I play around the outside of the peak in this nil wind condition, confident that I won’t pick up any nasty gusts. For the hell of it, I throw in a few steep turns then waggle my wings at the hikers and head back towards Gloucester. While I was over Pen-y-Fan, I had switched onto 121.5 just in case. I heard London Centre calling for a plane that was squawking 7700 near Winchester. He clearly wasn’t on frequency despite a few calls by London Centre. I wonder what happened there?



I call Gloster Approach with 20 miles to run for a direct join and they give me direct to 09, which I am pretty much in a straight line final for anyway. I hear another forumite on frequency as he flies from Shoreham to Shobdon. I call again as requested at 5 miles and I am given clear to land. I do my pre-landing checks and get the airspeed under control by pulling the throttle to idle and holding altitude for what seems like ages as the plane slowly loses speed to allow me to pull on some flaps. Some power back in as I get the speed back to 80 kts. At 1 mile final, I bleed it back to 70 kts and hold it there. Good approach, good airspeed. I go through the landing in my head and try to land long so as not to tie the runway up while I trundle to the end. Over the hedge and get ready…. flare…..NOW. I hold off remembering that I am light so it will take a while for the stall warner to blare. I touch very lightly before I want to and hop slightly (not a bounce, just a gentle hop), I curse a bit then as she settles again, I make a determined effort to hold off and make the stall warner holler. I succeed and when we touch again, there is no more flying left in the wing and she settles nicely. Despite all of this, I still have a fair way to taxi to A2.

Back to the hangar and I put the plane away just in time to see a note on the hangar from another group member saying that he is in the clubhouse and I can leave the plane out – DOH! Too late! Never mind, good practice. I complete the paperwork and update the other group member on the plane (not much to say). I sort out the end of month / start of month paperwork as I need to sort out the December accounts (I run the books and billings for the group).

A lovely flight to start 2011 – thoroughly enjoyed that! For 2011 I am vaguely planning on a tour of Denmark and Sweden in the summer – fingers crossed!