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March 22, 2000

Daryl Hegyi, President
Jeff Rochon, Vice-President
Glenn Ursel, Treasurer & Acting Secretary

Mail to: Pacific Ultralight Flying Association
102-16071 82 Avenue
Surrey, B.C. V3S 2L6

PUFA Newsletter published by Glenn Ursel

From The President
by Daryl Hegyi

Tragedy struck last Wednesday, when the Hummel Bird piloted by Peter Moulton crashed about 2 kilometres west of the King George Airpark.  The pilot sustained major injuries.  Our heartfelt sympathies go out to Peter and his family.  As responsible pilots, we are obligated to learn from this tragedy, lest we repeat it.

The facts are few:
 - the pilot recently had his engine repaired.
 - he took off from runway 15.
 - the plane impacted in a nose-down attitude.
 - the top blade of the propeller was intact.

From the evidence, we can infer that the accident was a  stall subsequent to engine failure.  We can only imagine what we would do in the same situation.  Then, we can fly to a safe altitude and practice forced landing procedures and slow flight.

On a less serious note, it's time again to start thinking of activities for the spring and summer.  We were blessed so far with great weather, in between bouts of really miserable weather.  Hopefully, this summer will make up for the lack of flying last year.

Our elected secretary, Patrick Stanley, has sold his plane and lost interest in ultralights.  Even though I tried to convince him that he doesn't need a plane to remain a PUFA member, he still decided to resign his executive position.  Therefore, we need to appoint someone to take his place.  Any ideas?

Do you remember the VFR Supplement BC Aeronautical Information Publication put out by ATP?  It stopped publication about 5 years ago.  I still use my dog-eared copy from 1995.  Some members have expressed a desire to republish a variation for lower mainland ultralight pilots.  Perhaps PUFA  can handle the layout, publication and distribution?  Let's talk about it at the March meeting.

Editorial Note

by  Glenn  Ursel

For this months newsletter, I have a rather eclectic collection of articles including a whimsical story of Fred Barons about a summer flight to the Gulf Islands, a report on Fred Glasbergen and Beverly Lawrences recent holiday in Florida and an article written by Dave Loveman concerning the proper attitude for safe flying.

By now, most of you will have heard of Peter Moltons crash in his homebuilt Hummell Bird at about 10:30 am on Wednesday, March 15th.  Peter had taken off earlier that morning from the King George airfield and apparently stalled his plane (possibly after an engine  failure) about a mile west of  King George Airpark, crashing headfirst into a field of last years corn stalks.  The accident was seen by a passer-by on Highway 99 but not reported to the RCMP until about 25 minutes later.  The RCMP contacted Fred Glasbergen who went up to locate the plane.  At time of writing, Peter was in critical condition in the Royal Columbian.  We hope that he recovers fully from his injuries.

I had a bit of a close call myself after a uneventful flight to King George Airpark on Saturday, February 19th.  When I tried to restart the engine for the return flight, the gearbox fell off the engine!  After comment by Gord Denham about the gear oil on the prop, I realized that I had mistaken gear oil on the prop for engine exhaust for several weeks before this incident!!  If you see oil on the bottom of the gearbox or oil on the prop that is thick and bluish rather than black, check it out!!!

April, 2000 Flying Events
Sunday, April 2nd, 2000, 9:00 am to 11:15 am
Delta Airpark, RAA Chapter 85 monthly pancake breakfast
$3, 9:00 am to 11:15 am
Listen to the pre-recorded arrival procedures for Delta Heritage Airpark, Phone 878-9050

A Summer Flight

It is summer on the West Coast and its a sizzler!  I awake to the sound of birds on the sundeck with the sun coming up over the mountains.  It feels good to be alive.  But, when I have to drive from my home near White Rock to dreaded Vancouver this morning, I will have to leave the sanctity of my house and farm to drive to the big city.  It will be rush hour traffic for this flying cowboy.  Not a trip Im looking forward to on such a beautiful day but, if I can get there, do my business and get back in one piece (that driving is dangerous), I will treat myself to an early afternoon flight in my amphib float plane.

I grab a coffee and some Doug Flutie cereal with Mill Raisins Bananas on it.  Then I fire up the Van, making sure I have my brief case and away I go.  Its 8 am and it is already a hot 75o F.  Now I know that a lot of people do this commute to the big smoke every day but, for me, it is not a bit pleasurable.  I make my way on Pacific Highway to the freeway, Highway 99, where the speed limit is 100 km/h.  As soon as I hit the freeway, it is stop and start traffic and I have 20 miles to go.  Drivers are honking at each other; it is bedlam.  The temperature has risen to 125o F.  Im sweating and not happy.  I wish I was back at the farm pre-flighting my plane.

I go into a state of suspended animation, bite the bullet and make my way to the heart of the city to do my business where float planes are taking off from the harbour, heading for places unknown.  Later, I pay my $20 parking bill and head on out.  Free at last, I feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  The Van is on the freeway on cruise control at 110 km/h.  Im on a mission now.  The warm breeze feels good on my smiling face.  I have a vision of that bird making its way to my Shangrila.

It is around noon by the time I make my way back to the farm which I have named the Intergalactic Aerodrome.  I pull the float plane out of its hangar.  Boy its hot!  Im hot, sweaty and sticky and just want to get in the air.  But being in a hurry I have learned can cause problems.  So I did an extra careful pre-flight check of the plane.  We are all gassed up.  The plane burns a big 3 gallons an hour.  Im good for about 3 hours.  Im  ready after warming up the engine.  Pulling  on my life jacket over my tank top, I have my shorts on over my bathing suit.  I taxi down to the end of the runway, bring the bird into the wind and away we go!

Life is good.  The pension cheque is in the bank.  The plane is running like a Swiss watch.  I lift the wheels up into the floats and head out to the Gulf of Georgia.  Finally Im a bit at ease.  Im not in a bumper to bumper car situation.  No one is honking their horn and Im headed to beautiful Galiano Island across the Gulf of Georgia from White Rock on the Lower Mainland.  I take a well travelled ferry and boat route just in case.  I arrive at Active Pass, a pass that separates Mayne Island from Galiano Island.  It is a narrow water way with high hills on both sides.  It makes the air rough in there but I know that, as soon as I clear the pass, the air will be smooth as silk.

I have my landing site in view and drop down from a thousand feet to get a wind direction and to check the water for debris.  I have to wait a bit while a couple of small boats clear the area.  I bring it in to the wind and make a pretty good landing, considering there is a bit of a chop.  I taxi up to the shore line, drop my wheels down and taxi up onto the beach.  It is a beautiful white shelled beach in a little cove with over hanging Arbutus, cedar and fir trees.  As I shut the engine off and take my headset off, Im struck dumb by the silence and beauty of the bay.  When I think of where I have been this morning and where Im at now, I thank Orville and Wilbur.  If the government finds out about this, I will be in trouble.  They will find a way to tax it!

The tide is out and the beach is teeming with sea life - shore fish, crabs, kelp and oysters clinging to the rocks to keep their tasty morsels away from prying hands.  The eagles circle above, screaming out a defiant call for the clams and mussels in abundance below.  I pull my hammock out of its pouch in the back seat, attach it to the strut with the other end to the fuselage and prepare to have a little well deserved nappy.  As I lay in my hammock with my radio headset

on,  listening to a most relaxing tape and swaying gently to and fro in the cool sea breeze, I imagine that I am in a secret cove on a tropical island.  On my magic carpet, I drift off to a tranquil slumber.  Life is good.  I dream of sugar plums and good flying.

I awake to the sound of the tide lapping at my floats.  It is time to leave my place in the sun.  I can feel my stomach growling.  The sun is getting low in the west.  I pre-flight the plane, put the hammock in its bag and take off on a smooth, emerald sea.  There isnt a ripple on the water.  The plane was a little harder to get off but we lift off and head home.  With a feeling of contentment and at peace with the world, I make my way back to the mainland.  I pick up Highway 99 under the left wing at 1,200 feet ASL.  It is bumper to bumper traffic again.  I cant help wondering if these are the same commuters that I had seen earlier.

I have the Intergalactic in sight.  It looks good.  The wind is right down 26 and I put the gear down, lock it in place, put her into the wind and am soon back down on terra firma.  What a great day!  I have to get all that salt water and sea weed off the plane.  My stop watch reveals that I have been flying  for 2 hours.  I enter the time in the log book and the events of the day.  Gassing up the plane, I note that six gallons were used.  Not a bad day for six gallons of gas.  I put the bird into the hangar, walk 20 feet to the house and open a bottle of red wine to count my blessings.  What will tomorrow bring?   It will be hard to top this day but I will try.

Fred Baron
November 24, 1999

The Worlds First Searey Fly-in

Fred Glasbergen and Beverly Lawrence recently went on a holiday to Orlando, Florida.  Of course, with Fred, it had to be a working holiday as they visited a private seaplane base called Garners Landing which was the site of the first Searey fly-in.  Fred says it was attended by the SOS (Searey Owners Support) Group.

A total of 8 Seareys were flown in for the event.  One of the Seareys weighed 1,070 lbs which compares with the standard 700 lb empty weight.  This Searey was powered by a Rotax 914 which was equipped with an engine cowling and a 3 blade in flight adjustable prop.  It also had a full IFR panel, including GPS and a full 3 axis autopilot.

I was surprised to learn that Seareys have been in existence for about 7 years now.  Fred and Beverly also visited the Progressive Aerodyne (Searey) plant.  This is  a family run business and the family were all very helpful in showing Fred and Beverly around and allowing them to photograph planes in the building process.  Fred

and Beverly asked a million questions and, despite the fact that they were very busy, they recognized that  the Airflow people were their customers and patiently took the time to answer.  Beverly said it was an interesting and informative day.

Fred and Beverly also visited Cape Canaveral (going from the Searey to the sublime) and found it to be a very interesting site to visit.  They spent several hours there looking around.  They watched films from the early rocket experiments blowing up (the Americans are not at all shy about showing the early failures) to the Apollo missions ("one small step for mankind").  Beverly remembers staying up in England to watch the first moon landing.  She looked out of the window and saw that hers was the only light on.  So much for the interest in history.  In Islamorada on the Keys, they watched a trike on floats drifting around in the early morning or quiet evening.

Glenn Ursel
March 9. 2000

Ultralight Flying - an attitude adjustment!

Visualize yourself living on an ultralight field, getting up to go to work.  You get up have your breakfast, jump in the car and head out for the hour drive to the office. Now visualize yourself living on an ultralight field, getting up to go for a fly in your ultralight.  You have breakfast, jump in the plane and head out for the wild blue yonder!

There are a number of problems with this and they all deal with "attitude."  In order to fly safely you have to "change your attitude."  Before you jumped into your car and started off to work - did you check the weather, did you check your engine for oil, transmission for fluid, brake fluid, windshield washer fluid, tire pressure?

Did you tell someone where you were going, or when you expected to be there or back?   Why not?  Because you have developed an "attitude."  You don't have to check the weather - your in a car. It "adapts" to the weather. You didn't check the fluid levels because you take your car in for service and they check everything out for you. You didn't tell anyone where you were going because - it is taken for granted you are going to work.  "Attitude" - In every day real life we have become pampered.  Everything is either done for us, we pay someone to do it, or it is readily available.  This is great - except when it comes to flying - especially flying our ultralight planes. Why - because flying is nothing like driving a car.  You can and do get away with a great deal of "things" when driving a car.  A low tire - you just pull into a service station and put air in it - sometimes every day for a month before you get it fixed. Low on oil - ahhh your going to get the oil changed this weekend.  Down to 1/4 tank of fuel - the next station is only an hour away.

All of these things happen to us regularly, with little if any consequence to us.  Oh sure, we had to call for a tow truck to fix that tire when it finally went flat, or we had to call home and get the old man to bring us fuel when we ran out.  But very seldom do these cause us any grief or pain - just aggravation!

Lets look at these same situations if they were to happen when we flying.   *A low tire allows the plastic rim of our plane to contact the ground.  The rim splits and the axle digs into the ground, spinning the plane to the left, the wing hit the ground and ....  *Low on oil or fuel, while we were just going to go up for a short 30 minute flight, the conditions are so good that we decide to stay up for an hour.  Unfortunately we only had 45 minutes of fuel/oil on board.  The engine seizes/quits and we have to make an emergency landing into a soft field - tearing up our landing gear.

So in order to fly safely the first thing we have to do is an attitude adjustment!  Especially us old pilots - with hundreds if not thousands of hours of flying.  If you check accident statistics you will find that it isn't student pilots, or low time pilots having accidents!  Why not?  Because they are still "scared to death" of having to listen to their instructor, wife, friends, fellow pilots - and they are NEW they have a more "cautious attitude."  A lot like going out on a first date, they are nervous and don't want anything to go wrong.

Now the "old pro" on the other hand has "been there - done that" - a number of times and gotten away with it! The problem is that unlike the car problems - whenthe "old pro" has the engine quit for lack of fuel/oil - it is hard to find someone to come up to 2,000 feet and "filler her up." Instead he now has to rely on the skills that made him "an old pro" to get his butt back down safely - hopefully with no damage to him or his craft.

So lets draw up a "recipe for safe flying" - for those just getting into our sport, and for those already in it that might fit into the above category.

Let's start out with a few basic rules before we get into the - every flight "rules."

If you want to live to fly another day the a couple of rules you must adhere to are:
-never test fly someone's plane!
-never fly a plane that you don't know "up close and personal!"
-never fly a plane that has been in an accident or had any major repairs!

Editors note: going back over my years of flying these three categories have put me into the hospital 6 times. With test flying and repairs doing me the most damage - that is if you consider - 12 broken ribs, a fractures pelvis, a broken leg, a broken ankle, two punctured lungs, and a concussion "damage."

Okay so what's next? (You already know how to fly - someone taught you - right!)  The first thing is "preparation of both the pilot and plane" - for the intended flight. Pilot: The first thing to check is your "attitude" are you in the proper mood to go flying?  I once had a pilot show up at my field, jump in his plane, take off, run out  of gas, land in a plowed field, destroying his plane.  He  had lost his job, add the fact that his car had broken down on the way to field forcing him to walk over 2 miles. So "check your attitude."

Got a great attitude?  On to step two: Most of us fly because it is "fun and relaxing" - to keep it fun and relaxing, plan you flight's for first thing in the morning or later in the evening. Getting up before the sun rises may not be part of your normal routine - but if you take off into the sunrise on a beautiful summer morning - I will guarantee it will become part of it!  Ditto for being in the air as the sun sets!

Step three: Information - get all the information available on for your intended flight.  The first consideration would be weather.  FSS stations, the weather channel, radio/tv reports, the internet are some of the sources available to you.  These all can supply you with "current information" - not just for where you are now BUT for the route you will be flying and for the area's where you will be landing.

Make sure you have a map(s) - road maps are inexpensive tools that come in very handy, as does a portable working compass (cell phones are also high on the list).  With the above items "plan" your trip no matter how short - and let someone know your route via a "flight plan" or "flight itinerary" (a flight itinerary is just a very simple note or conversation with someone, giving your planned route, stops and estimated arrival times) great for when someone like me has to try to find you - when your wife phones to say you were suppose to be home at 4  for dinner at your
in laws and it is now nearly 8.

Plane:  If you have your own plane there are a couple of things I would recommend having on board as "part of the plane."  One is a tool kit - Costco has a neat little unit with just about everything you need, in a compact plastic tool kit for about $50.  On my L'il Buzzard I bolt it to the floor of the plane behind the pilot's seat.  In addition to the tool kit you should carry some safety wire, an assortment of nuts, bolts, and cotter pins, a couple of spark plugs, some duct tape, about 10 feet of fuel line, some primer line, exhaust springs, a rubber replacement intake manifold; on air cooled engines, a fan belt; on liquid cooled, a small container you can use to get water in a rubber motor mount and a couple of hose clamps.

Preflight:  The preflight should be done prior to EVERY TAKE OFF - no matter how short the interval.  I once had a pilot do a preflight on an RX 550 Beaver - both of us checked his elevator cable PRIOR to him taking off.  He flew two hours home - called me the next day to say that during his morning preflight, he found a failed cable with only 7 strands of the elevator control cable still intact!

The preflight should of course include the engine, and floats and float mounting hardware if thus equipped. When doing your preflight - especially if your are new to preflights - use a check list.  Start at one point in the plane and work all the way around until you are back to that point. If you are interrupted for any reason - start your preflight OVER from the beginning! When doing a preflight do not let anyone talk to you, or distract you.

Flight Operation:
Starting the engine: (After preflight and fueling.)  It is suggested that if you are starting your engine make sure to have your shoulder harness and seat belt adjusted and buckled, especially in a plane like the RX 550 Beaver, where they can go back and enter the prop.

Make sure the engine fuel selector valve is TURNED ON!  I can't tell you how man students have filled one of my L'il Buzzards with fuel and started to taxi down the runway - only to run out of fuel about 45 seconds later.  A rule of thumb is to taxi for about 5 or six minutes before taking off.  This makes sure your fuel is turned on - and if not you run out of gas ON THE GROUND, and gives the engine time to  warm up.

Apply full throttle and then allow the throttle to come back to an idle.  LISTEN for the slide to hit the bottom of the carb.  ESPECIALLY in winter, when the slide can stick wide open!  Or the throttle cable can freeze up!

On Rotax engines either prime the engine a couple of times, or if using a choke apply the choke, the choke on Bing carbs WILL NOT work if the throttle is not all the way back to idle.

Turn the ignition switch(s) on.  Check to make sure no one is in the "Danger AREA" - yell clear prop!  Pull the starter rope of push the electric start button. The engine should start up.  If not refer to .................

Once the engine starts allow the starter recoil handle to retract SLOWLY back up into the housing.  A quick release can result in the handle going through the prop. (If the handle does not go up by itself - REPLACE the spring in the recoil - otherwise it will come out while flying and in a pusher configuration will go through the prop!)

Apply the brakes and bring your engine up to operating temperature - 350 CHT - 1,000 EGT, 140 water temp. On dual CDI ignition engines do your mag checks - at about 3500 rpm one side then the other.  You will notice a drop of about 300 rpm this is normal.  If possible bring the engine up to full power slowly from an idle -  to check ALL ranges of engine operation.

Check your control system once more for free movement on continuity!  I once had a clip on the rudder pin of my Buccaneer come off in some weeds while taxiing.  Applied rudder only to find it wasn't working.  Another time I tried to apply ailerons only to find I had forgotten to remove the aileron stops!

Take Off : Here's where I am going to get into a little bit of trouble with most instructors, and or other pilots. These recommendations are for 3 axis control aircraft!  In most cases the recommendation is to take off into the wind.  My recommendation is to take off so that you have a landing field directly ahead of you to land in, regardless of wind direction!  Why?  On the field I flew from for over 22 years taking off to the north meant that once I was airborne I had no where to safely land for about 3 minutes.  But by taking off to the south I had a two fields that I could safely land in.  Over the 22 years I landed in either one of those fields 38 times. Other pilots and students I have trained have also made use of them.

On take off as soon as I am airborne I start flying at a slight angle away from my runway rather than down the center line.  This way, if my engine quits or I have a problem, I can just glide and do a gentle turn forward back to the runway.  By flying away at a slight angle I have lengthened my runway.  E.G. If I were to fly straight down the center and were to have a problem my only course of safe action is to land straight ahead.

By flying at a slight angle away I have the distance back to the runway PLUS the distance down the runway.

Climb out: Do a nice gentle climb out using FULL power, keep full power on until you reach the altitude you are going to fly at.  When climbing out - climb out going slightly away from the runway - until you get enough altitude that you can safely start a turn BACK to the runway - NOW do a "climb out circuit" - that is climb out while doing a circuit of your runway.  Over the years I have found that if I am going to have a problem it generally comes within the first 10 minutes of my flight.  If you use this 10 minutes to circle your runway and the engine quits - or you have to land.  You are now able to come back into land at your field - versus - being 10 minutes away from your home base, landing in an unfamiliar field, possibly damaging your plane, and having to get a truck, trailer, and help to get the plane back!

Why FULL POWER - think about it this way - if you  run your engine at full power for 10 minutes you can climb out to 2,000 feet (just an example). The engine quits  - you now have 2,000 feet of altitude to find a safe spot to land. With your home base being that preferred spot.  Now you climb out at full power for 4 minutes and then back power down - at the ten minute mark you are now at 1000 feet - looking for a spot to land. Altitude is money in the bank - the more you have the more you can spend and the more ways you and spend it.

Won't this hurt the engine?  NO - A Rotax engine has to be rebuilt at 300 hours - no matter what rpm you fly at.  The engine was originally designed in a snowmobile to do nearly 9,000 rpm.  Full power in an ultralight it only pulls about 6500 or nearly 30% less - and at cruise 5200 to 5800 is even less than that.

Won't my engine overheat?  It shouldn't if everything is right.  Look you are running full power the fan is producing the most air it can, or the water pump is pumping as fast as it can.  If you are flying most enclose planes like my L'il Buzzard you are doing between 55 and 65 mph meaning that quite a bit of air is going through the rad or fan from the plane moving through the air.  If your engine is overheating, it is generally because something is wrong in the system.

Cross Country: Fly high enough that you always have a safe spot to land. I like a base of 2,000 feet.  With a power setting on a Rotax engine between 5200 and 5800 rpm for the best fuel burn and economy.

Landing: Enter the downwind leg of your circuit at a height that if your engine quits you can make the rest circuit dead stick!  And practice this each and every time you land - either by bringing the engine back to an idle and flying the plane in with the stick.  Or by shutting the engine off first on final once you KNOW you can make the landing, and then SLOWLY build confidence by shutting the engine off a little farther out each time.  REMEMBER watch for wind speed and direction - THIS WILL change each and every approach.  Initially an instructor along for safety is always money well spent.  During the landing approach if you have had the engine idling - give it short burst to help circulate the coolant and maintain engine temperatures.  In the event of an aborted landing, apply power SLOWLY to help cold seizure.

Shut down: When shutting down your engine let it idle for 3 to 5 minutes to cool everything down slowly. This will extend exhaust and engine life. It also helps lubricate the engine, as the idle mixture is a richer setting.  Thus oil is deposited into bearings etc.

Originally published by Dave Loveman at his website
http://www.ultralightnews.com/features/attitude.htm

Peter had been lying on the wing for about an hour before taken by helicopter to the Royal
Columbian hospital.

I was impressed with how easy it is to take the wings off the Yarrow Arrow for trailering purposes.  Only two bolts above  and a single bolt for the strut with another single bolt for the pushrod that controls the ailerons.

Glenn Ursel
March 15, 2000