On AirJ E R S E Y A E R O C L U B N E W S L E T T E R A P R I L 2 0 0 4

I’m particularly interestedin historic aviation eventsor geeky aeronautical

facts, so open the photo album and flyingnote books and share your flyingexperiences. Please email mecaroline@jerseyaeroclub.com or drop acopy into the Flying Room. All photos willbe returned. The next copy deadline is 10thJune (Spike, make a note!!). Thank you toall those who have contributed to this issueand particularly Andy Brown for his time &help with design and production.

In the next issue of On Air, we hear of DeeHewlett and Maggie Cabot’s trip to Bloisand a report from Jackie Beck on theexcellent Sea Survival course we’ve justcompleted.. do you really know how to usea life raft? Do you know how many minutesyou would survive in the sea without usingthe life raft for shelter? Do you know thatthe raft has a drogue to increase stability,do you know where to find it? Mostimportantly, do you always wear yourmandatory lifejacket?

On Friday 14th May, JerseyAero Club will be honoured

to welcome members of The Air Squadron to present their filmWings Over Africa.

The Air Squadron was founded in 1966 bya group of friends who shared apassionate interest in flying light aircraft.Two of the earliest members were SecondWorld War heroes Sir Douglas Bader andSir Hugh Dundas. Others were Sir MaxAitkin, Tommy Sopwith and LordWaterpark.

In the past two decades they have flowntheir aircraft to Russia, Jordan, Tanzania,Pakistan and Morocco. In 2000, the AirSquadron flew across the north Atlantic inorder to tour the length and breadth of theUSA as far west as Alaska.

In 2003, the hundredth year of poweredflight was commemorated by the AirSquadron flying to Cape Town, a round tripof 16,500 miles. This is the subject of theirfilm Wings Over Africa.

This is a unique chance to be see anexclusive showing (approx 30 mins) and tomeet the pilots for a chat about theiradventures.

Tickets are £20 to members and £25 tonon-members. Price includes a welcomedrink and buffet.

Proceeds of the night will go to GreatOrmond Street Children’s Hospital - JerseyAppeal.

The Aero Club will gain some great PR andexposure from this as we aim to have theJEP, Channel 103 and Channel TVcovering the whole event. So do comealong for a great night and support boththe Aero Club and a fine Charity.

Diary DatesPlease check the Notice board Page onour website www.jerseyaeroclub.comas it is updated regularly or call into theClub for further details.

Wednesday 8th April Social Evening “The Great Escape” A presentation by Ian Le Sueur

Friday 23rd April Italian Dinner Evening In the Skyview bar

Saturday 24th April Jack O'Sullivan Flying Competition Book your aircraft now in the flying room

Sunday 2nd May Jersey Aero Club Open Day Information for prospective pilots or members

Wednesday 5th May Pilots Social Evening With Video Presentation - details to beconfirmed

Friday 14th & Sat 15th May GOSH Charity Film Show & Flyout Friday 14th, 7pm - the ‘Air Squadron’ showtheir film ‘Wings over Africa’ in the aero clubhangar. Drinks and buffet - tickets from theFlying Room - £20 members, £25 nonmembers. Saturday 15th - fly out with the ‘AirSquadron’ to Caen for lunch. Book your aircraftnow, support a great charity and don’t miss out- see opposite for full details.

28-30th May 50th International Air RallyCall the Flying Room for more information -743990 or e-mail: info@jerseyaeroclub.com

Wednesday 2nd June Pilots Social Evening With Video Presentation - details TBC

Saturday 12th & 13th June Club Flying Trip to France Bagnoles : book with Flying Room

Saturday 19th June Barn Dance & BBQ with local band

Sunday 4th July Independence Day Dinner

Saturday 4th & Sunday 5thSeptember Club Flying Trip to France Vannes : book with Flying Room

Thursday 9th September Battle of Britain Air Display Yippee!!! � (Utterly Muppetly - Sub-Ed ☺)

Jersey Aero Club, States Airport, St Peter, Jersey, JE3 7BPTel: +44 (0) 1534 743990 Fax: +44 (0) 1534 741290 Email: info@jerseyaeroclub.com 1

Captain’s Log Temps passé by Caroline Newman - Editor

Wings Over Africa - 14th MayA film presentation by The Air Squadron (www.airsquadron.org)

Catch up with more Aero Club news in ‘Snippets’ located on page 7

Club Fly-out to Caen with TheAir Squadron 15th May

The Air Squadron have invited us to jointhem on a fly-out to Caen on Saturdaythe 15th May. The Air Squadron will havebetween 8-10 aircraft and we hope totake 4 or 5 club aircraft and all others(private/group) who would like to join in.

This is another superb opportunity tomeet these intrepid flyers and chat withthem over some lunch in France.

Book your aircraft now and come and joinin the fun. See you there!

The bookings are now coming in and wehave 22 entries compared with 9 this timelast year. Of these, 4 are first timeentrants. Our aim is to have 50 aircrafttaking part, so please encourage youroverseas pilot friends to join in.

Thanks to the amazing generosity of oursponsors, we are now able to announcethat the overall rally winner of the EricHjulstad Trophy will receive a BrietlingFlying jacket provided by Brietling andHettich jewellers of St. Helier, plus a £250cash prize donated by HSBC Bank. Therunner up will receive £150 cash fromMorvan Family Hotels and a beautifulglass bowl. We are also planning a raffle

for the competitors on Saturday night withall prizes donated by our many sponsors.Prizes include free hotel accommodation,hire car, champagne and much more…

Our rally plaques, presented to eachentrant, are being provided by our mainsponsor Fuel Supplies (C.I) Ltd, the JerseyAero Club Avgas supplier; and helping usto keep costs down this year is asignificant contribution from Jersey’sEducation, Sport and Culture Committee.

A BIG thank you to all our sponsors fortheir amazing generosity. Thanks also tothose members who created an archive ofthe Club’s history. We have information

about the very first rally held in 1954. The winner was Madame A. Arnaud in her Piper PA.14 and this aircraft willfeature on the 50th anniversary plaque.

The theme of the rally is “FriendshipThrough Aviation” and we really hope that a lot of club members will enjoyjoining our competitors for the weekendsocial functions.

Details of these events will be availablefrom the Flying Room.

If you have any queries please contact mein 743990 or email:info@jerseyaeroclub.com

50th Jersey International Air Rally Update by Eveline Hawkin – Rally Manager

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At a meeting held at the club on Mondaythe 15th of April 2002 it was decided thatthe Chipmunk Aircraft GAPLO wouldreturn to Jersey and be once againavailable to local pilots for pleasure flying,for touring, and for the occasionalaerobatic experience.

GAPLO was built at Brough, Chester, withfuselage number 048. The constructionnumber was C1-0144. It was acceptedinto the RAF on the 19th September1950 and allocated to Number 11Reserve flying School based at Scone,Perth, with fuselage code RCR-C. Fromthe 30th November 1951, it was one ofthe aircraft flown by the AberdeenUniversity Air Squadron, and it waseventually released by the Air Ministry in1956.

During its service life the identificationletters and numbers on the fuselage wereeither RCR-C or WB 696. After releasefrom the Air Ministry GAPLO was, forsome thirteen years, one of severalaircraft operated by Air Service Training asa basic trainer for their CPL courses,which they ran on behalf of BUA, BOAC,BEA, and other UK airlines.

Doug Dron actually flew in this aircraftduring the time he was instructing atPerth. By the time Mike Collett started hisBUA sponsored commercial course atPerth in 1966 there were only three

Chipmunks left there. GAPLO was alwaysconsidered to be the best of the three andwhen it came up for sale in the winter of1968/1969 Mike Collett bought it. Hesubsequently flew the aircraft toBlackpool. From there it was flown toJersey, via Elstree, by David Blackburnwho, at the time, was Mike’s partner inGeneral Aviation Services (which laterbecame Air Atlantique).

Mike kept the aircraft in Jersey for a whilebut eventually sold it to Sid Woolmer, who,with Dick Anderson, one of the co-ownersof the aircraft engineering firm thatserviced the aircraft operated by what wasthen the Channel Islands Aero Club. Thisoriginal name was quite appropriate as inthe early days the club also ran flyingtraining courses in the other islands. Sidand Dick also owned two Cessna 172swhich were available for hire to Clubmembers.

The Aero club did not own a touringaircraft in those far off days. Would youbelieve that the hire charge for the 172sthen was 17 pounds per hour and one ofthem was fully IR equipped! When Sidand Dick decided to retire, the Aero Clubacquired the engineering business andalso the Chipmunk. Mike Kemp, who hadbeen the Chief engineer for Sid and Dick,became the Aero Club’s chief engineer.

In November 1980 the then Committee

decided to sell the Chipmunk, as it did notmeet its operating costs. So strong wasthe reaction to that Committee decisionthat a group of active members formed aloose organisation that became known asthe Chipmunk Group. The object of theChipmunk Group was to oppose the saleof the aircraft, a view that was wellsupported by the flying members.

Photographs and articles appeared in theEvening Post. Eventually a solution wasreached whereby the Chipmunk Groupundertook to raise certain sums of money,and to help with some of the necessaryaircraft maintenance under engineeringsupervision. A savings account wasopened by Mike Balston with the RoyalTrust Bank to look after the finances ofthe Group. Some members, headed byMike Kemp, Geoff Tipping and TrevorGoodchild, stripped the aircraft of its paintand, after considerable research, it was re-sprayed in its present colours, torepresent an aircraft that had flown withthe Cambridge University Air Squadron inthe mid fifties. WD 379 was chosenbecause there were several good colourphotos of that particular aircraft and so avery accurate copy could be made.

For example, the University crest on thecowling was made by Geoff Hathawayand the gold colour was real gold leaf.Geoff Tipping visited Cambridge and OldWarden in order to obtain first hand

The Chipmunk - a brief history by Geoff Tipping

knowledge of the history and the coloursof their aircraft. Trevor Goodchild made aset of huge compasses to mark out theroundels. Mike Kemp obtained accuratedetails of the size and shape for the RAFletters and numbers. The real WD379was given to the Government of Kenya,but was soon sold off to an owner in theUSA. As far as is known itno longer exists.

There is a list of 87 clubmembers who contributed tothe Chipmunk fund whicheventually exceeded 5000pounds, (quite a lot of moneyin the 80’s) all of which wasgiven to the Club. Moreoveralmost all of the basic labourfor the fifty hour engineeringchecks was done by theChipmunk Group membersacting under supervision.

The Chipmunk Groupsupported the Aero Clubfinancially for some six years.The Aircraft was flownregularly by members, and frequently tookpart in Club trips to Cholet, Bagnoles,Dinan and Granville. It was also flown bythe more experienced pilots to meetings atHenstridge, Woburn, Middle Wallop, andWroughton in the UK and to La Ferte Allaisnear Paris. The flying charge was morethan sufficient to cover operating costs,and in some years a surplus was made.

There was an interest in aerobatics despiteour unfavourable geographic position.

In 1982 the cost of a 5 hour aerobaticcourse was 165 pounds, and success inthis course entitled the student to an

AOPA Aerobatic Certificate.Unfortunately interest in the aircraftwaned as time passed and a situationagain developed whereby the aircraft wasunder utilised. The result was once againa cry by the Committee to sell theChipmunk.

With no great opposition this time anarrangement was reached with MikeCollett. One of his companies would buythe Aircraft but it would be left in Jerseyfor the Aeroclub members to use, apartfor about two months in the Summer,when it would go up to Coventry.

To the credit of Mike Collett thisarrangement has persisted for manyyears, but is has become obvious forsome time that the incoming financeearned by operating the aircraft has failed by a considerable amount to meet the maintenance costs which haveto be borne by Mike Collett’s company.

The aircraft only flew 51 hours in 2001,but the major annual maintenance carriedout in Coventry was in excess of 10,000pounds.

As previously stated, at the meeting onthe of 15th April, attended by about adozen members, it was decided to “have

another go”. John Cabot andGeoff Tipping were airlifted toCoventry on the following day,and flew the old aircraft back toJersey. There will now be anattempt to advertise the aircraftand to promote flying in it, as itis obviously a very valuableexample of a vintage aircraft ofthe 1950’s.

It is one of the best aircraftever designed from the point ofview of harmony of controlsand, although it is not reallypowerful enough for advancedaerobatics, it is, in the hands ofa competent pilot, well capableof all the basic manoeuversrequired for intermediate

contests. The fact that such contests areheld in the UK does not help. Anyway itcertainly sounds and looks good in the air,and it would also look good in your logbook, so club members who have a validPPL, and have not yet flown in the aircraftshould give themselves a treat and book asession. I’m sure that James, Doug orFrank would be delighted to oblige.

The sad fact remains that if GAPLO is notflown more often, then the inevitableresult will be that it will disappear,probably for ever, from the skies over ourIsland. It is up to all Club members not tolet this happen.

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Photo - Cuddlington Smythe

Chipmunk flight training is available at £116 per hour and gift vouchers for trial lessons with loop the loop as an option if desired.

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Charlie Bravo On Tour by Vin Cadigan

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I am 460Hr plus IMC, Bob is a PPL andJerry is a CPL/IR…

Friday planning – Bob & Jerry, two flyingdoctors from Birmingham (who had neverflown in France), arrived in Jersey onFriday evening and we had a practice runat Ker Francois where we planned our tripover the meal. The idea was to clearcustoms at Lessay, have a look round thefair and then head south with an ultimateaim of reaching Corsica, time, weather etcpermitting. We had a full set of FrenchVFR/GPS Charts, a Pooley’s Delage, theFrench VFR flight rules booklet and, forequipment back up, battery operatedGPSIII Pilot and Icom transceiver. Weplanned to fill to just over the tabs for eachleg giving ourselves an endurance of 2.5hours with about an hours reserve.

Saturday Lessay & La Rochelle – Withcheckouts for Bob & Jerry complete andweather noted, we loaded our bags and aspare litre of oil and took off at about12:00 for Lessay (or lassie as Bob Powellprefers to pronounce it). It was my firsttime both at the field and at the amazingfair and I will definitely be going back

After a BBQ lunch at the fair we took offfor a trip along the Normandy landingbeaches before turning south aroundOuistreham for a planned fuel stop atLaval, we stuck to the French VFR levelschoosing FL65 in the cloudless blue skies.Approaching Laval it was blind calls inFrench and, finding the tower and aproncompletely deserted we marched about _ amile to the Aero Club where there was agood deal of laughter about our Frenchradio calls and a lift back to the pumps forrefuelling. A useful tip here, the French forup to the tabs is “Jusqu’aux onglets” whichwe learnt from the lady refuelling us.

It was my turn to fly the next leg to LaRochelle via the Angers VOR. The VRP’sare easy to spot as is the field as they areon the coast and we were given a down

wind RH join for 28 and were soon on theground parking next to the old club twinFox Fox! A typically French sight were theparachutists landing 50 yards away.

Sunday Biarritz & Pamplona – Sundaydawned as perfect as Saturday and wewere soon climbing up to FL75 over theoffshore islands of Ile de Re and Iled’oleron towards Bordeaux, who offered usa route straight over the BDX VOR. Fromthere it was a straight run into Biarritz. ThePyrenees in the distance were topped bycloud so a possible trip to Spain wastemporarily put on hold until we could getsome weather reports. We were given aleft base join for the 7,400ft runway 09with the approach being over the sea. Afive-minute taxi ride took us into town for awalk along the front and lunch where wediscussed our next stop. Back at theairport and after some helpful advice fromflight planning and the met office wedecided to head for Pamplona. We filed aflight plan and headed out to sea to gainsome height for the flight over thePyrenees, switched to San Sebastian infoand crossed the FIR into Spanish airspace!FL75 gave a great view of the mountains.

Pamplona is equipped with 3 NDB’s andtwo VOR’s speaking volumes for itsposition which, at 1,500ft above sea level,is surrounded on all sides by mountains.We descended to FL55 to clear the last ofthese and soon saw the town with itsfamous bullring in our two o’clock. TheSpanish controllers were excellent and,after reporting at the Vrp’s, we were givena RH downwind approach to 34 and weresoon on the ground and on our way to thetown, about 5km away. The taxi driverdropped us outside the excellent hotelAvenida in the town center, €75 a nightB&B for a double room, and we were soonsightseeing and sampling a few cervezas.

The next morning we had a final strollround the fascinating old town where thebulls run each year (Bob Wright tells me hewas chased by a bull here in his youth) anda look round the spectacular cathedral.

Monday Carcassonne - My turn to flyagain so with weather checked we took offfrom runway 16 climbing as fast as CharlieBravo would go, circling the field back toFL 75 for our second crossing of thePyrenees. We were given an immediateradar service from Madrid and were soon

back in French airspace and headingtowards Pau. In what seemed like no timewe were switching to Carcassone for astraight in approach to runway 28 andwere joined at the refuelling pumps by anEnglish registered Cessna 172 on its wayback to the North of England.

We were soon sipping a cool beer by thepool in the excellent hotel Montmorencyoutside the walls of the old town and, aftera swim, headed over the drawbridge for alook around the town and an evening meal.Carcassonne was a special place and Iwould recommend a visit to anyone! TheMontmorency was €109 B&B for three!!

Tuesday Le Castellet & Corsica – TheMet man gave us a list of Tafs and Metarswith CAVOK so the sea crossing was not aworry and we chose Le Castellet for ourrefuelling stop. As Corsica is French wedidn’t need to clear customs but wouldneed to file a flight plan for the seacrossing. The trip up the coast was viaMontpelier and we got clearance for FL75again rather than the low level VFR routewhich gets down to about 700ft in places.We were also given a couple of radarvectors, the first to avoid an airbusoutbound from Marseille which passedoverhead and then a military KC135 tankerinbound for Rhone. We were soon talking,in English, to Le Castellet, and given a LHdownwind approach for runaway 13. Thefield is 1,400 ft up in the mountains aboveToulon and as we neared we could see thethe formula one circuit of Paul Ricard.

The facilities were like something out of aJames Bond movie with a splendid sandstone control tower and receptioncomplete with smoked glass and electronicdoors and an on field “Hotel des Equipes”and restaurant in the same style Airportstaff in crisp white shirts with Le Castelletlogo’s attended to our every whim, weatherprovided and flight plan (obligatory for thesea crossing) completed, together withfrequencies and other advice for theonward route, all supplied without asking,all for €12; What a place!

Continuing on the VFR route at FL 75 withlife jackets on for the 133nm crossing toCorsica, we headed to St Tropez and theSTP VOR for a right turn over the sea. Wecoasted out on the 280 radial to pick upthe reporting points over the sea, thesewere confirmed using the VOR/DME and

also fed into the Gps.The waypoints wereLerma , Omard (Lobster), Merlu (Hake),Gurpa and Norka and at this final waypoint, we turned onto a heading of 308 to Bastia. We could see Corsica as atip of black (the 9,000ft mount Cinto,)showing above high cloud from more than70 miles out and were switched to Bastiainfo at the Gurpa waypoint and stayedtuned to the St Tropez VOR as the BTA atBastia seemed masked by the mountains.

The approach was amazing as we weregreeted by a solid wall of mountain atabout 4,000ft with no apparent waythrough, as we got closer we could makeout a route over the lower peaks andcommenced our descent to FL55. At theNW VRP, over a mountain ridge, anenormous plateau appeared below us onthe east coast and the airfield was clearlyvisible in our 2 o’clock; we continued ourdescent to circuit height and were soon ona RH downwind approach for runway 16.

Once on the ground, the Aero Club phoneda few hotels for us and recommended atrip to Elba for the following day, finallydriving us to the terminal to hire a car! Ourhotel, the Alivi, €150 B&B for a doubleroom, was the other side of Bastia, aboutan hour away, expensive but beautifullysituated on the coast with pool etc.

Wednesday Isola D’Elba - it was time forour trip to the Italian Island of Elba, a lateaddition to our itinerary. This was just 37miles from Corsica and only 12km off theItalian mainland. The sea crossing and FIRboundary necessitated a flight plan andthen it was take off, my turn to fly again,dialling in the Elba VOR and NDB for acourse of 068 for the 30 minute flight at3,000ft. We were told to join for runway 34but could hear another plane being clearedfor take off on 16! A twin engined biz jet ofsome sort, he asked for our positionsounding more than a bit anxious but weassured him we had contact and were on awide left base for the up sloping 3,600ftrunway and would be landing with about a3kt tailwind component, with themountainous high ground to the northexplaining the converging circuit directions.

We set off on foot to the nearby town andbeach of Marina di Campo and were soonstrolling along the white sand eying theinviting ligurian sea. We had two swimsuitsbetween us but no towel; this was soon

remedied by negotiating with a Moroccantowel seller, writing our offer in the sandand then plunging into the warm water. Abruchetta lunch by the harbour and a beerfor me, as Bob was doing the return leg;this plane sharing had got a lot going for it!Apart from being stung €63 for landing,parking and handling, this was definitelyone of the high spots of the whole trip

Thursday Arrester wires andVillefranche - A swim in the hotel pool thenext day and then it was time to head backto Bastia Aero Club and top up the oilwhich had just dipped to the six quartsmark for the first time on the trip. Forrefuelling after our return sea crossing wewere recommended a naval base calledCueurs, the thing to watch out for were thearrester wires at the displaced threshold.

As Jerry had flown the outbound leg wechanged the rota so that I did this one andI duly managed to miss the arrester wiresand thereby avoid a very sudden stop onlanding. We parked away from the militaryapron next to an outdoor museum, whichhad a Mirage, Super Etendard, Sabre,Broussard and various other planes for usto admire. After refuelling, we decided tofly straight on to Villefranche le Rouerguein the Aveyron region.

Tuning in to the Villefranche frequency wecould hear a couple of planes in the circuitso out came the French crib sheets andwe went for an overhead join to the fieldwhich has an elevation of 1,100 ft withhigh ground to the west and a downwardsloping 3,400ft grass into wind runway.With no landing fees to pay we set off tothe lovely old market town and were sooninstalled in the excellent Hotel Univers onthe banks of the Aveyron. They obliginglycrammed all of us into one room for €82B&B for three! Back at the airfield the nextday we were shown a Luxembourgregistered Cessna Skylane which had beeninvolved in “Une atterissage brutale” theweek before, destroying the undercarriage

and prop! We had a bit of trouble prisingfuel out of them as they didn’t have muchleft, would only accept cash and didn’t havea calculator to work out the charge!

Friday Saumur - The next day it was offto Saumur on the Loire routing over themassif centrale and a refuelling stop atMontlucon. We stayed at the fairly ordinarylooking Hotel Excalibur but the restaurantwas highly recommended and thankfully, asit was our last dinner in France, didn’tdisappoint; the bill for B&B, a superbdinner for three and two bottles of saumurwas just €162 .

Saturday Mont St Michel and Home - Inthe morning we walked the 15 minutesinto town across three bridges over theLoire and were greeted by the biggestSaturday market I have ever seen. This wasour final day as Bob and Jerry were on the19:15 back to Birmingham that evening.Our route was therefore pretty direct,Vannes then Dinard to clear customs andfinally back to Jersey via Mont St Michelfor some final photo’s.

The end – As the furthest south I hadbeen before this trip was Amboise on theLoire, it was a fantastic adventure and Ican honestly say it was not nearly asdifficult as I had thought. Ok the amazingweather helped, but the French, Spanishand Italian controllers were easy tounderstand and helpful and we had nocustoms or paperwork difficulties. TheVFR/GPS maps were very easy to followand had all the necessary frequencies, Navaids, Vrp’s and basic terrain info required,with additions from Pooley’s for the airfieldapproaches. Most importantly Charlie Bravodidn’t miss a beat and the GPS & Autopilotwere a big bonus, it would have beendifferent trip in Delta Tango!

Travelling with two other pilots reduced thecost, which came out at about £800 for allflying expenses and £700 for hotels,meals, car hire etc each. The maximum2.5hour legs were just right, allowing plentyof time for sightseeing and we ended uplogging 25 hours split between three of us.It also helped that we all had a similarsense of humour! The high spots of the tripincluded a beautiful half Spanish halfFrench singer in a Carcassonne bar and adelightful blonde mini skirted taxi driver inVillefranche, oh and the flying was prettygood too!

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Welcome to all our new members who have joined the Club and congratulationsto our members who proved competence to fly as follows:

1st Solo PPL IMC

John McGranahan Arthur Trueger Leonardo AzevedoGaynor Darling Andy Rondel John Richardson

Paul Venton Marcus WoofSean Morvan

NIGHT

Derek Fage Miles Gooch Kerry Holdridge Andy RondelRobert da Silva Glenda Hay Alan Osmand Jim BuckleyLeonardo Azevedo Adrian Akers

Flying Milestones 18th Dec - 16 March

A good night was had by all at the AnnualFlying awards on Saturday 27th March.

Our new chairman Peter Paxtonintroduced proceedings and voiced hisencouragement to all fliers at the Club.Along with James Evans, they went on topresent the awards, including 1st Solo,PPL, Night and IMC.

Special awards included the longest trip ina Club aircraft, youngest solo andoutstanding airmanship.

Mention was also made of the recent SpotLanding competition (see below) won inatrocious conditions by a non-PPL withonly 5 hours tuition! I ask you - what hopeis there for the rest of us?

Jersey Aero Club Flying Awards - 2004Held on 27th March 2004

After three attempts at holding the annualSpot Landing Competition curtailed dueweather, was Sunday 14th March to beour last attempt for 2003?! Predictably, theday before the sun shone but CAVOKwould not last and I didn’t sleep soundlyknowing the forecast for Sunday was alow cloud base and very strong crosswind.However, the actual improved with notquite such a low cloud base and only astrong crosswind! Conditions were withinlimits, so we decided to go ahead and flywith as many strong-stomached (200/50at 2000ft!!) competitors as wx would

permit. Safety is paramount and thesurface wind was at all times within legallimits but these conditions created afascinating spectator sport and someinteresting arrivals from the North side ofthe runway, prompting Bob Powell torename the event “Spot the LandingCompetition!”. From an instructors view wewitnessed a lot of surprised faces, whiteknuckles and smiles upon landing safely.28 pilots took part and agreed it had beena great learning experience. An excellentand cheap method enforcing theirunderstanding of strong cross wind

techniques with the comfort of aninstructor on hand to stay safe and provideguidance if required.

Thank you very much to the Flying Roomstaff for organising the event, to Air TrafficControl for their permission and smoothhandling and safe maneauvering of us alland especially thanks to all those thatcompeted and made the day such a hoot!

Winner : Ron Bougourd (70/100)

Joint Second: Kevin Hamon & Giles LeSueur (65/100)

Fourth Time Lucky? By James Evans – Chief Flying Instructor

I’m very keen to do another 14.8 hours,that will complete my 1000 hours. “Home”is KCOI – Merritt Island - single runway11 - 29, 3601 ft, sticking out intoNewfound Harbour, actually part of theBanana River. Elevation is either 7ft or10ft! Merritt Island is in a slightly dodgylocation with Patrick airforce base 7n.m. to

the south, who own the airspace up to2500ft. Cape Canaveral airspace isapprox. 7n.m. to the north, own theairspace from surface to forever! After9/11, there were actually hostile movestowards Merritt Island because it is soclosely squeezed between the two, butluckily nothing came of it.

Now listen here you chaps…

Before hiring a Club plane, pleaseensure that you :

• Have read and signed the Flying Orders Book

• Have a current medical certificate

• Have a current S.E.P. rating

• Have flown within 42days

• Have paid for your flight time

If not, please ask for guidance from ourfriendly Flying Operations Team,telephone 743990 or emailinfo@jerseyaeroclub.com

Disconnected Jottings from US’ by JAC member Ralph Ellington “Skyhawk”

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Who would have thought karting could beso much fun! Well we certainly didn'tbefore we went.

We were encouraged to join the Club's tripto Lamballe on Saturday 7th February2004. As the weather was wet, well whatcan you expect in February, Lamballewould not run the track in wet conditions.

Efforts were made to find an alternativewhich was achieved with the track atKarting des Nielles. Five aircraft then flewto Dinard where the Club had arranged thehire of a minibus. As Shaun, one of ourparty had been to this track before it didn'ttake long to find it.

When we arrived, and as we were mostlynovices, we opted for the EUR11.50 for a10 minute circuit, this doesn't sound longbut, believe me it is for the first time andyou can always go again. Once we all hadour tickets, had donned sexy greenhairnets and our helmets we then got intoour go-karts, the starter cord was pulled,it's like riding a lawn mower, off we wenthairing round the track.

As expected the guys went flat out whilstus girls opted for a more sedate pace. Ihadn't realised that they would try to lap uson both sides! This I personally foundunnerving to begin with but once youforget about those behind and realised itwas up to them to stay out of your wayyou can just 'go for it'.

On the first lap some of us (the guys),spun their machines on the grass. It wasso exhilarating that we wanted to go again.

During the second slot everyone had thefeel for their machines and things were alittle tighter.

When the karting was over some peopledispersed and then there were nine, so wejumped into the mini bus, driven by ourcapable chauffeur, Annette, thanks Annette,we headed to Cancale for lunch.

It was already 3:00pm French time andmost restaurants were closed but CreperieA L'Abordage obliged us with a lovely lunchwhilst the skies cleared, and the sun shoneon the water we gazed out toward Mont St

Michel across the bay. The food was good,the company congenial and the karting hadbeen exhilarating. We just had time for aquick spot of shopping at the hypermarketoutside St Malo before flying home.

Our day ended with a drink in the Skyviewbar whilst recounting the events of the day.Then we said goodbye to our new foundfriends with whom we had spent a funfilled day full of laughs.

In the past Maggie and I have not reallybeen on many of the Club arrangedoutings or trips. We went to bothBagnoles and Avranches last year, for thefirst time and then this karting trip andrealised the fun we have missed.

So if you are a newly qualified PPL, stilllearning or you haven't done much for awhile, why not come along and getinvolved. We don't bite and you could findyou form friendships and possibly flyingpartnerships which could take youanywhere - across Europe and beyond.

Happy landings.

1960 Club Trip

Photo kindly loaned to me from Don &Jean Bell. Taken in 1960, was this the firstAero Club trip? About forty club membersvisited St Brieuc Aero Club in five aircraftnamely two Jersey Airlines DC3s and 3Club aircraft. Don recalls “We were verywell looked after..” From left to right..Me108, Auster G-AOCR, Stampe, 2 DC3s(crewed by Aero Club members) and alsoon the trip but not shown Auster G-ANIJand Ercoupe G-AKFC.

CAA Safety Evening

We had a good start to the year when 100members welcomed the CAA to participatein the Safety Evening presentation inJanuary. Startling statistics and graphicfootage of pilot errors heightenedawareness of good airmanship and a needfor regular training and pre-flightpreparation. Our thanks to David Cockburnand Squadron Leader Matt Lee for aninformative talk and answering ourmembers’ questions.

Interesting Websites

Around Britain Air Rally Infowww.abar.info gives details of the proposedweek long trip in June. Two legs per day tofly around the coast of Britain in 18-20hours and around 2000nm in 1.5 - 2 hourlegs. Not a cheap challenge but think ofthe sense of achievement!

Alderney Websitewww.islandofalderney.co.uk which includesdetails of their infamous island celebrationsduring Alderney Week, the popular Fly-Inevent and their 8th Annual Air Race .

Guernsey Aero Clubwww.guernseyaeroclub.com gives details oftheir friendly social events and flyingactivities. Jersey flying instructor NeilPaisnel is presently working there and canprovide further information.

Go karting? by Dee Hewlett

Snippets by Caroline Newman

For all you skiers out there, next time yougo to play in the white stuff, check to seeif there is an altiport nearby. Then strapyourself into a Jodel and hurl yourself offthe side of a mountain.

I did just that in February when I went ona snowboarding trip to Méribel. I knewthere was an altiport there so I wentprepared and had a marvellous time.

Méribel altiport is situated right next to thepiste at an altitude of 5,600 feet. Therunway is 400m long and drops 90 feetalong it’s length. So it’s full power fromthe ramp, quick stroke of the rosaries andoff you go.

The Jodel was a dream to fly - stick andrudder, and with no wind to speak of theflying was rock solid. My instructor didmention that it’s a different game whenthe wind gusts over the peaks!

We flew around the Trois Vallees at 9,500feet, taking in Méribel, Courchevel and ValThorens before making the approach backto the altiport.

I didn’t know what to expect but with thesurface wind calm, the arrival wasstraightforward with the snow doing it’spart making the arrival nice and spongy,then it’s quickly to full power to claw ourway back up to the ramp!

Watching Courchevel arrivals isentertainment in it’s own right. There issome reasonable size metalwork landingthere (there was talk of Dash-8’s) andwith a length of 535m and a drop of 213feet, I imagine the approach perspectivefrom the cockpit is not what us meremortals are used to!

High flying on skisby Andy Brown (more images coming soon to www.great-circle.co.uk)

Compliments

My husband and I visited Jersey.. when wefirst arrived at the Aero Club, we weremost impressed with the warm andfriendly welcome we received from yourstaff. During the few days we spent onthe island we visited the club on a coupleof occasions being lucky enough to beable to watch some of the “old war birds”practicing for the air show, from awonderful vantage point on your terrace.On each occasion we found all your staffwithout exception to be absolutelycharming, helpful and efficient. Thank youfor such a memorable occasion.Rosemary Brain, Barnsley UK

It was a pleasure to fly with such aprofessional organisation and I hope tocontinue my flying with you in the verynear future. Paul Price

Thank you for all your help andencouragement on my IMC course. I reallyenjoyed my time in Jersey andcongratulate you all on the professionaland friendly way that you carry on flighttraining from the Aero Club. I am lookingforward to honing my newly found flyingskills and hope to visit the Island and ofcourse the Aero Club the right way up,under control and wings level soon!!Clive Sibley, Isles of Scilly

To the Engineers - thank you for comingout and braving the winds, all in the spiritof customer satisfaction! After I refuelledand rechecked the weather, the forecastturned even worse with 65-75 knots windover the Channel so I decided to stayanother night in Jersey. The next day wasfine and the plane performed perfectlywell, faultless all the way to EGHO. Thankyou and all your staff for doing such afantastic job on my Piper Arrow, whichwas in for its annual. All your engineersclearly take pride in their work andattention to detail is evident. Please alsopass this on to the Aero Club who wereall very helpful and assisted me to get theplane back in and out of the hangar after Imade one of those ‘pilots decision’ “sod it,I’m not going!”. I would recommend yourcompany to anyone seeking service ormaintenance work, please keep up thegood work. John McMillan, UK

See Channel Island Aero Services pageon our website www.jerseyaeroclub.com oremail Bob Wright atengineering@jerseyaeroclub.com

8

Mini Book Review - First Lightreview by Andy Brown

Author Geoffrey Wellum recounts his story of leaving school in1937 at age 17 and joining the RAF to become a fighter pilot.From the very first page the writing style draws you in and youfind yourself riding with Geoffrey every step of the way.

Somewhat scraping through basic training, which I could relatewell to, he is soon at the controls of his first Spitfire with 92squadron - no dual instruction, just strap in and off you go!As you can imagine there are some hairy moments and thenhe's off flying several sorties a day against the best thatGermany has to offer.

You have to keep reminding yourself that the author, like somany of the fighter pilots then, was so young. The story isvery moving as he recalls losses of many good friends in avery short space of time.

Mentally transposing myself into the cockpit during thedogfights made me realise just how truly terrifying those days must have been. Take your most heartstopping flying experience and multiply it by a hundred! Block out some serious time when you pick thisone up, because you won't be putting it down in a hurry. A must read.

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