LAA Highlands and Islands Strut

Transcription

1 July 2017 Newsletter LAA Highlands and Islands Strut Website: Newsletter Next strut meeting Friday 29 th September 2017, 7:30pm at Highland Aviation, Inverness Airport. This issue:- From the chair Bungee/shock cords. Shempston Bog standards Fly-in news For sale Membership renewal form FROM THE CHAIR July 2017, by Nigel Campbell LAA HIGHLAND & ISLAND STRUT ANNUAL DORNOCH FLY-IN on JULY 29th & 30th The weekend we have all been waiting 12 months for. The weather forecast, so far, is promising reasonable flying weather. G-ARNY s 60th BIRTHDAY FLY-IN at KNOCKBAIN on AUGUST 12th & 13th This an advance invitation from David (Lockett) to celebrate the four man group s Jodel D117 s 60th Birthday. If you might like to come, subject to all the usual weather conditions, could you please let David know so they will know roughly how big to make the cake? The Knockbain strip is now 700 metres long including its recent extension to the west of the hangar. LAA SOLLAS FLY-IN Unfortunately, the number of aircraft arrivals for the Sollas fly-in was projected to be limited due to the expected weather. Saturday was reported as a washout with heavy rain, high wind and a one-hundred foot cloud base. Looking at the forecast a Sunday flight was thought do-able. The RV7 has plenty of power and we were able to maintain 130 or so knots into a very stiff head wind. Before coasting out just North of Skye, apart from the odd deviation to avoid the standard low cloud and a couple of mountaintops, the trip West up the valleys presented no surprises. Upon arrival at Sollas, a low pass was executed to assess the crosswind component. This indicated, at best guess, to be around fifty/sixty degrees. The tide was well back and thus we were able to do a slightly curved approach offsetting the cross component by a small amount. The welcome we received was, as always, extremely warm and the Sollas team are to be congratulated as they had achieved wonders with their improvised set up, all of which was accomplished under very arduous weather conditions. It can be said that the Stornoway butcher sausages and homemade scones were absolutely delicious. As the murk was appearing to thicken on the hills around Lochmaddy quite rapidly, it was clearly time to depart. Homeward bound, with a tailwind in our favour, the very high ground speed was evident as we crossed the fourteen nautical mile water crossing from North Uist over the Little Minch to the nearest tip of Skye in around five minutes. As expected, the whole area was the standard West Coast and Skye, fish-bowl haze, murky and lots of hill-hugging cloud with no visible bright areas to the North or to the South. The only option was to circumnavigate Skye round the North end down the East side over Rona and Raasay to the East of Scalpay aiming for the just under 600 metre strip at Plockton. We continued on a little past Plockton towards Strathcarron only to find the valley leading towards Achnasheen blocked off, as it frequently is, with a black wall of precipitation. After trying a couple of other valleys seeking to find an alternative passage Eastwards it proved to be time to pop into Plockton for as long as it took for the visibility to improve. In this instance, luck was on our side as it had visibly improved after only 30 minutes since we landed. We departed, with another black wall rapidly approaching from the West towards Plockton, that was visibly already at the Broadford strip. Not a perfect scenario but within VMC minimums, we continued up the valley to Garve and back to Dalcross. A most enjoyable flight. See Fly-in news section for more info and photos from Sollas. Page 1 of 8

2 From the chair continued TOMMY s LAMB HOLM FLY-IN We all missed out on Tommy s Saturday night shindig. We were sure looking forward to that night out. Unfortunately, as with Sollas, the weather on the Saturday rendered any flight to be impossible. We managed to get there on the Sunday afternoon. After arrival there was, a heavy downpour that we heard later resulted in others cancelling their planned flight to Lamb Holm. The flight home was uneventful. Another great day out. The weather in Orkney can be cruel as evidenced by damaged wall panels that at first glance could have had an attack from an A10 Warthog but in fact the hundreds of holes were the result of gale-driven hail. UPDATE OF OUR STRUT/ CLUB MEMBERSHIP RECORDS for LAA HEAD OFFICE The necessary information we requested has as yet to be received and shall be transmitted to LAA headquarters after the spreadsheet has been fully populated. HIAL Controlled Airspace The latest update from Paul (Jenkins) is that HIAL have transmitted its formal submission to the CAA. LANDING CARD AT INVERNESS A couple or so weeks ago, I attended a meeting with Graeme (Bell) manager of Inverness airport. Graeme is presently collating the data with the hope we (our Strut s/ Club Permit Aircraft) shall be advised of a cost for landing cards. Details have been delayed as Graeme is presently on holiday. SEPTEMBER STRUT MEETING IN HIGHLAND AVIATION S NEW PREMISES Our September get-together shall be in Highland Aviation s new premises. The location of the new building is further on down the road past the long-stay car park. It is right at the very end of the road next to the Signature premises thus impossible to miss. The car park is just across the road. Page 2 of 8

3 All you ever wanted to know about Shock Cords Thanks to Rick Philips for this link to some interesting information on Shock Cords or Bungees used on many light aircraft undercarriage assemblies: Here is a short clip from a film on Piper Cubs being built in the factory. It shows the process of fitting the bungee cords to the undercarriage legs. Using this film as a reference, I was able to fabricate a similar tool to fit new bungee cords on my own aircraft which worked pretty well. Ed. Page 3 of 8

4 Message from Shempston John Farquhar has advised that any members who haven't flown into Shempston yet are most welcome to do so and enjoy the extensive hospitality suite! (man shed/chalet). As is common practice they don't charge landing fees but a donation to the RNLI is always appreciated. The RNLI lifeboat collection box contained almost 90 collected in donations over the past couple of years Bog Standards Some of you may have seen this news report about a Piper Cub making an emergency landing beside Loch Leven: The picture to the right was taken at the scene. Apparently, the full story was that the aircraft made a planned landing at the location. The two occupants then spent the night in a bothy and subsequently got the aircraft stuck in a peat bog while taxiing the next day. Being out of radio contact with ATC, they then contacted an overflying airliner for help who reported it as an aircraft in trouble, hence the Coastguard S92 was scrambled with it s crew expecting the worst. Looks like even Tundra Tyres are no match for Highland bogs. Page 4 of 8

5 Fly-In News The earlier report from Claudine and Andy was transmitted to all. The following was a subsequent E mail exchange with Claudine that included some additional snaps from Sue as below. Hello Nigel I am so pleased you got home safely. After you took off we drove to the ferry terminal at Berneray and as we got there the weather deteriorated even further and I was really concerned. Very pleased you enjoyed the fly in - we didn't think it would happen but you and George did make it happen. Thanks again. I attach some pictures that Sue sent me - you were not on the list so here they are. We shall not be at Dornoch unfortunately. But have a lovely day and see you soon. All the best Claudine George (Cormack) and Sue plus two of their friends arrived in George s Islander Nigel (Campbell) and Duncan (Sutherland) arrived in Nigel s RV7 Some of the attendees with Claudine in the foreground A view from inside the sheep trailer that was improvised to house the BBQ as the weather made it impossible to erect the tent Page 5 of 8

6 On the right is Joan, sister of the late John Macleod, a long time LAA member and the founder of our LAA Sollas beach fly-in Since the passing of John Macleod, Claudine and Andy (facing camera) have taken on the role of organising our annual fly-in at Sollas 2017 Fly-in Diary July Dornoch 29 th and 30 th July. August Knockbain Fly-in 12 th and 13 th August: Jodel G-ARNY s 60 th year. September LAA Annual Rally, Sywell 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd September. If you know of any fly-ins coming up in 2017, or are planning a fly-in or any other type of aviation related event, please let us know at laahighlandstrutnews@outlook.com Page 6 of 8

7 For Sale Rans S6ESA Coyote group A Tail Dragger First flight 1992, TT Airframe 467hours, TT Engine 835 hrs, Rotax 912 UL 80 HP, 800x6 tyres, Full swivel tailwheel (Matco), Tennessee wooden prop with epoxy leading edges, Fuel tank in fuselage(40 litres), uses 12/13 litres/hour, Max AUW 450kgs, Always hangared, Reliable, Permit expires 12/12/17. 14, phone Alister AC Anti-Clockwise tachometer AC Anti-clockwise Tachometer in excellent working order. Suitable for use with Continental C90-8F amongst others. 70 (ono) including postage within UK. Contact the Editor at: laahighlandstrutnews@outlook.com Or phone/text Paul on Page 7 of 8

8 Highland Strut membership renewal for 2016/2017: Treasurer s Address:- Billy Grant, Craigellachie, Laundry Lane, TAIN, IV19 1ED September 2016 With this the September issue of the newsletter, we come again to membership renewal, which we have once again been able to maintain to the paltry level of only 5:00 for the year October to October. To maintain your membership, please complete and return this form with payment to the treasurer at the address shown above. Cheques should be made payable to The Highland Strut. Alternatively, come along to the next meeting and see Billy in person, but please complete the details below which will form the basis of our membership list. Name: LAA BMA Address: BGA LAA Membership No.: address: Telephone: Postcode: Mobile: Page 8 of 8