Table of contents for January 2024 in Pilot

There’s a theme of reinvention running through this edition of Pilot, starting with the news that US Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President Mark Baker is testing unleaded avgas in a leased test aircraft. This shows real leadership, but it is not the first time that a prominent figure in one of the associations has risked his own pink body in proving an alternative fuel is viable: remember the British Gliding Association’s technical officer, Dick Stratton flying an Auster on mogas to prove its suitability for use in glider tugs (and, subsequently, the wider Permit fleet)? You might argue that Baker’s test flying, running one engine of a Beech twin on an FAA-approved unleaded avgas, is less risky than Stratton’s was – but Dick could switch over to avgas he…

The cost-sharing app company, Wingly, has just fought a fierce rearguard action with the CAA over the future of cost-sharing flights. The CAA thinks the current rules are not fit for purpose. Professional pilots and operators I’ve canvassed are unanimous that the CAA is right to toughen up these regulations. The CAA’s changes to the rules, which will mirror those of the FAA, demonstrate that the Authority has broken its lock-step with EASA regulations: there is now a timely opportunity to help hour-building pilots and lessen the sting of the cost sharing rule changes. Cost sharing flying stems from an EASA initiative to help private pilots fly more cheaply and more often. CAP 2270 says, ‘The Air Operations Regulation includes a derogation… that allows a flight on UK registered Part-21…

THE PAN AM PRIZE! silentpooldistillers.com has joined Pilot to present our Star Letter writer the gloriously indulgent prize of a litre bottle each of Pan Am gin and vodka in a Pan Am building presentation box STAR LETTER Turbulent memories The ILAFFT article in December’s issue brought back pleasant memories of my first flight in a Turbulent. I was a member of The Tiger Club at the time – a very different club at Redhill in those days. Those wishing to join had to have 100 hours in their logbook and pass a flying test in a Tiger Moth. A cheerless December day in 1975 became less inspiring when I arrived at the club hoping to fly one of the Stampes, and it turned out that they were both delayed…

Maladjusted microswitch Aircraft Type: Pioneer 300Date & Time: 26 March 2023 at 1620Commander’s Flying Experience: CPL, 2,900 hours (of which 17 were on type)Last 90 days: 81 hoursLast 28 days: 20 hours A student pilot was landing with a slight crosswind from the left. Just before the flare the instructor added right rudder and left aileron before they made a ‘smooth and symmetrical’ touchdown. The instructor recalled that after approximately five seconds the aircraft started to veer to the left. He then noticed that the left wing had contacted the runway. The aircraft departed the runway and struck a runway light. Assessment of the aircraft after the accident identified that the left main undercarriage leg had collapsed. During the previous flight when the undercarriage was lowered for landing, the right…

Having been interested in flying aerobatics since seeing the Cosmic Wind aerobatic display at Coventry about sixty years ago, while I was still at school, the interest unfortunately never went away. An opportunity arose to take a share in an aerobatic Starduster 2 that had an O-320 Lycoming engine with no inverted fuel system and was based at Staverton (now Gloucester Airport). First I had to get checked out by the chief pilot of the Aeros flying group, a Mr Ken Ballinger who was working on flying the largest ever number of consecutive loops, using a Citabria. (He later managed to get into the Guinness Book of Records by doing so.) The handling check took longer than when I had initially trained to go solo! One had to demonstrate competence…

Anaerobic digestion plant proves indigestible In the February’s ‘Notes’ we reported on how Easter Airfield in Scotland was fighting to stop an anaerobic digestion plant being built next to the airfield’s runway – and the airfield appears to be winning. In the most recent development, the Highland Council has refused planning permission for the planning applicant, Acorn Bioenergy of Inverness, to build the plant and its required infrastructure. The council stated in its refusal that it has not been demonstrated that the proposal will not have a detrimental impact on established aviation interests. The plans for the anaerobic digestion plant showed it being built very close to Easter Airfield’s runway, while an estimated 65 trucks a day would have required the use of the airfield’s perimeter track. In a statement,…

TUI to launch second MPL Cadet programme Major UK carrier TUI has announced it will launch another cadet programme early next year. Applications for its Airline Multi-Crew Pilot Licence (MPL) Cadet Programme will open on 8 January 2024 and close on 31 January. The nineteen-month course offers an excellent opportunity for those with little, or no, flying experience. Upon completing their training successful candidates will eventually join TUI as a cadet pilots flying the Boeing 737. Candidates need to be at least eighteen years of age on or before 1 September 2024 and have at least five GCSEs including Maths, English and a science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, or Combined Science) at grade C/4 or above, or equivalent qualifications. They will also need to be fluent in English (verbal and written),…

It’s the Loughborough University Fresher’s weekend and the Buckminster Gliding Club’s briefing room is as full as – well, the last fresher’s weekend. It’s good to see lots of eager faces, it means I’ll have lots of customers and the weather is perfect. I’m scheduled to be the primary pilot for the vintage Slingsby T-31 and the backup pilot for the relatively modern Grob 109A motor glider, although as it transpires the ’31 is in so much demand that I never get away from the launch point until all the 109 trade has dried up! Indeed, and as I’ve noted on previous occasions, as soon as the T-31 appears at the launch point everybody wants a flight in it. A frequent observation about nostalgia is that things ain’t what they…

The French commemorate their heroic aviators with excellence. For nearly forty years, a flying rally for single engine aircraft has retraced the route pioneered in the early 1920s by heroic French aviators who established a regular 2,500km airmail service from Toulouse to St Louis in Senegal in the years from the early 1920s. Julian, who lives in France and shares our Piper Arrow, G-BBFD, registered us for the rally. We were insanely excited about it. Kelvin, who bored his non-flying friends for six months before departure, was banned by his partner from mentioning the rally in social situations. Julian took care of the French side of the planning, involving hundred of pages of information. Kelvin, who lives in the UK, took care of supplying the necessary English documentation, spares, pre-rally…

A perennial concern when our pre-INS/GPS navigation was significantly less than perfect was the very real possibility of unintentionally straying into hostile airspace and being shot down. Among the most notorious nations for doing this were predictably Russia, Israel and North Korea, but in practice the worst of the lot was the American forces overseas. So common were these events that the Americans even coined the Orwellian Newspeak phrase ‘friendly fire’ to describe them. In the mid seventies, once Boeing’s mighty 747s had proved the worth of their triple AC Delco Carousel IV INS, our management decided to retro-fit our old 707s with dual units. At first, we weren’t allowed to couple them to the autopilot, despite that detent on the rotary controller having also been added beyond the ones…

Why do the bloody Christmas adverts on the box seem to appear earlier and earlier each year? Come the big day itself I’m utterly sick of the damn things. However, these do help to act as a prompt for British pilots: here comes the winter! In the UK this means four or five months of what can best be described as miserableness. I’ve had a long-held ambition to be in the southern hemisphere for this period – but the demands of life have so far thwarted that goal. Consequently I’m stuck here, and have to cope with what mother nature brings. OK, there are a few absolutely fantastic flying days in winter – clear, crisp with neither a cloud nor breath of wind. They’re the sort of day that inspires…