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November 16, 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

Now is the time for electing the new executive for next year.   Glenn Ursel has agreed to stay on as Treasurer and, at the October PUFA meeting, Josef Kietaibl offered to stand as Vice President and Marilyn Parsons indicated her willingness to accept nomination for the position of Secretary.  We still need nominations for President and any other nominations for Executive will be welcome.  Come out and vote.  Hopefully, we can get our elections done before they finish the one down south.

We seem to be going through another round of anguish over Ultralight Passenger Carrying.  Kathy Lubitz of UPAC has sent out a flyer describing UPAC's concern over the draft regulation for the Flight Test Standards, Passenger Carrying Rating - Ultralight Aeroplane.  Numerous replies from various people, including our own Glenn Ursel and Jeff Rochon, have already been circulated.  Although the deadline for comments on the first draft (Nov 17) will be past, we should still have a (lively) discussion over this issue.

The Christmas party this year is going to be held at Marilyn Parsons' on Friday, December 8, 2000.  Again, it's going to be pot-luck, so bring your favourite dish and refreshments.  Marilyn's address is 1631 Dublin Street, New Westminster.  See you there!

Editorial Note
by Glenn Ursel

At the distinct risk of boring you, I have included a story with pictures of my motorcycle trip to Inuvik this summer along with a shorter anecdote with pictures of my recent expedition to Churchill, Manitoba to see the Polar Bears.

Next week Josef Kietaibl and I plan to head off on another adventure by motorcycling down to the Baja Peninsula of Mexico.  We plan to stop at Playa (Beach) Santispac to visit Gordon and Beverley Denham and then carry on down to Cabo San Lucas.

Accordingly, I am again sending the PUFA Newsletter out a little on the early side since I will be away for the rest of the month.

Fred Baron has sent us another one of his short stories, this one called Landings which chronicles one of his early flights in his Lazair to some friends near  Agassiz in the upper Fraser valley.  Freds story includes an amusing anecdote of a side trip and landing at a farm nearby where cow manure had just been sprayed on the field with predictable results to the intrepid pilot.  As Fred concludes his article with, we invite you to relate your own flying experiences for future publication in the PUFA Newsletter.

As a member of UPAC, I got the October, 2000 issue of UPAC News and I see that Fred Glasbergen wrote about his Searey accident so I reprint it here for your interest.

Don Willoughby very kindly couriered over to me a copy of the EAA Experimenter magazine so that I could include a very topical article on controlling the danger of fuel exploding during refuelling from the discharge of static electricity.  We should all consider the use of a grounding cable as suggested in the article.

Landings

It was the start of a very interesting day.  It was early spring and the swallows had returned from Capistrano or Seattle or wherever they go in the winter.  As a  middle-aged pilot who had just got his new found wings after soloing with a very tolerant and dedicated instructor, I was ready for this spring day.  The dandelions were in full bloom on the runway.  The powerful twin engine Lazair was in fine tune with the two 6 hp engines purring like a big cat at feeding time.  I was a know it all high time pilot with 20 hrs under my belt and the impression that every one loved these little mosquitoes.  The air temperature was just a cool 50o F and, when you strapped yourself in the seat under the wing, you had the main wheels by your elbows and the nose wheel between your knees.  There wasnt much room for a 200 lb adventurous new pilot as it was early in the ultralight era and every one was very excited about our new found freedom.  There were no regulations needed for the plane and no licence for the pilot so I must say that, for a person with a limited education, this was right up my alley, or should I say sky ways.  I noticed that those big planes would get in the way sometimes at 10,000 feet.  I couldnt tell if they were shaking their fist at me or waving.  Its hard to tell what they are being so excited about when your goggles are all fogged up and you got bugs in your teeth.  I guess they were just happy to see me.  Well I was ready for whatever this day had to offer.  I had a full tank of gas (2 cycle mix).  I was about to start a new day with the expectation of a new adventure.

I lifted off the runway at the infamous Airflow airfield with the big golden sun warming the bit of skin on my face that was exposed to the air.  My goggles were fitted snug to my face.  I had my newly purchased flight jacket on with its fur collar and its knitted cuffs keeping the cool breeze off my arms.  It must have been a good takeoff because I only had to pull two flies from my teeth but I was up there in the wild blue yonder, heading east to the beautiful Fraser Valley here in the Hawaii of British Columbia, Canada.  The farmers fields stretched out below me like a patch work quilt.  Its great to be alive on a phenomenal warm, spring day.  The engines are wound up like a McCulloch chain saw cutting through our virgin BC forest making tooth picks for the Queen.  I was a 40 year old motorcycle rider, a Vancouver rounder, and here I was a lone eagle up with the boids and all the spring scents in the air.  I have never had any feeling like this before.  I was euphoric, my adrenaline was high but I was at peace with the world, just in seventh heaven.  The greatest thrill of my life.  I could see the mighty Fraser River winding its way below me, carving up the landscape to its own wandering way, creating islands, estuaries as it meandered down to the Pacific.  I could see Pitt Meadows Airport off to the left and Langley Airport to my right.  A fellow told me as he washed my windshield and checked my oil where I get my gas at a Shell Station that there is a narrow non controlled air corridor between the two.  Well, anyone who had good advice like that must know what he is talking about!

I flew on past the Mission Bridge around Sumas Mountain, dodged a few pesky eagles and one red tailed hawk who took exception to my catching his thermal and riding up to a dizzying euphoric height.  I landed at Jim and Phyllis Lauglins in Agassiz and was treated to a hot cup of coffee and sandwich.  Jim and Phyllis have a farm by the Fraser River.  Jim told me that years ago the river was so loaded with salmon you could scoop the salmon out with a net.  Jims Lazair was tied up by his barn.  He had just landed from a 7,500 foot elevation flight around Mt. Cheam.  Jim is in his 70s and still flies his Lazair to this day.  After a nice lunch and a sociable visit, my gas was topped off thanks to Jim.  This Lazair sure eats up the gas.  The two gallons an hour for all this fun is robbery.  If the government finds out, they will want to tax me for sure.

I lifted off and headed back to Airflow in Surrey but it is not an automatic climbing machine.  You have to nurse the machine to gain altitude.  I had just gained about 200 feet altitude when I spotted a very excited farmer by his barn about two miles away from Jim.  This farmer was waving and jumping up and down like I was Charles Lindberg and had just crossed the Atlantic.  Being a bold aviator and trying to promote my new found sport, I took it upon myself to go and visit this excited farmer and find a new friend.  Being single at the time, I thought he might have an older sister...  I brought the plane into the wind, adjusted my goggles and poofed up my white, silk scarf in the top of my collar in my new jacket.  As I landed down, I felt a warm spray of mud from the nose wheel spring up all over the front of my new Italian leather flight jacket.  This continued until I couldnt see out of my goggles when I finally came to a halt in the field.  A dirty, rotten, stinking odour came to my nostrils as I unbuckled my seat belt and wiped my goggles off with my glove and stood up.  I discovered that the plane and I were covered in cow dung.  The farmer had fertilized the field with new fresh, wet cow manure and now I was the proud recipient of this mess.  It was in my hair, all over my face and my white scarf was dark chocolate in colour.  I was, to say the least, a mess!  The farmer ran over very irate; he wasnt being friendly at me flying over.  He wanted me to get away from his cows.  So there you go, a flying lesson was learned.  I cleaned myself off as well as I could, looked for an undunged takeoff roll and took off like a flying outhouse.  The earlier spring scents in the air were now mixed with a pungent odour of cow dung.

I made my way back to the King George Airflow air field like a dirty old piece of toilet paper.  I landed and headed for the garden hose.  I managed to make it there before prying eyes could see the worst of my predicament.  I managed to get my jacket, scarf and goggles off and clean up the plane as well as myself before the first of my flying buddies came over to ask me how the flight was.  My answer was very cold and abrupt.  I told him it was crappy.  I have carried this secret inside me for almost twenty years but I feel I can not keep it any longer.  So, now, the whole world knows.

Fly safe, land safe and dont be afraid to tell us of your interesting flying experiences.  I would like to read about it!

Fred Baron

Replace once, check twice

It is been over a month now since my attempted flight which almost became a tragedy.  Dont know quite where to begin but can say that the Searey or any other airplane doesnt fly worth a damn with only three of four wing struts attached to the wings.

I was going to fly home that evening, then next day to a fly in and wanted my airplane to look just right.  So I decided to change the cracked channel bracket on the rear strut with a new one and also change the an4-17a bolt as that one was showing a little rust.  A very simple little job but the bolt never went through the strut fork although it looked as if nothing had moved and it all torqued up normally.

On take off I got up to about 50-60 feet when the left wing went down sharply hitting the ground and literally cartwheeling into the hayfield.  The airplane is a total write-off and the insurance adjuster told me that normally when he sees an airplane in that state there is no survivor to talk about it.

I spent 16 days in hospital with my right leg broken in three places, a good scar on my forehead and a few other bruises on my head and body plus a broken nose.  I now have a titanium tube installed through the centre of the tibia from my knee to my ankle with screws holding it and they tell me this is going to stay with me for the rest of my life.  I guess theres no use putting a compass in my next Searey.  Im still on crutches and will probably have them for the next couple of months.

One of the toughest times in hospital was when the wife of a fellow pilot came to visit.  He was killed quite a few years ago in a very similar accident in a Beaver RX550. He didnt have chance because it happened at a couple of thousand feet.

At this time I would like to thank all of you that have sent cards and get well wishes.  Charlie, thank you for the aviation books, very much appreciated.

Im planning to fly again and replace the Searey but its going to take time and Im already getting impatient. So, Beverly is driving me around to therapy and visits to the airfield.  Should go up for the first time next week with one of my instructors.  This accident should never have happened if proper checks and pre-cautions were taken and I have no one but myself to blame.

Fred Glasbergen

(If youd like to see a picture of Freds Searey before the accident, check out www.airflowaviation.com) Originally published in the October, 2000 issue of UPAC News.

Motorcycling to Inuvik

I rode to Inuvik on a motorcycle once before in 1989 but slipped in the gravel and cracked 3 ribs in my back.  I got to Inuvik but flew out and had my bike, a 1981 Suzuki GS1000, shipped back to Surrey by truck.  Ever since I had the notion of doing it again without falling.  So on July 18th this summer I set off for Inuvik once again, this time on a 1986 Suzuki Cavalcade.

I got as far as the Crooked River Campground about 100 km north of Prince George the first day.  The next day I made a side trip to McKenzie where the tree crusher above was sitting just outside the town.

W.A.C. Bennett had been in such a hurry to get the Bennett Dam in production, he had three of these huge crushers brought in to level the forest instead of logging it.  I rode over to Tumbler Ridge after leaving McKenzie just to see this coal mining town before it is closed down due to falling Japanese prices.  There are a lot of nice houses but I wondered who would move to such a seemingly isolated spot...

I got to Fort Nelson the next day, had a few beers in a hotel there and then rode out of town and camped.  My third day out I decided to stay at a hotel in Whitehourse and enjoyed a nice 3 course meal down the street.  Got to have some reward for mortifying the flesh all that way!

On the fourth day, I rode up the Klondike Highway, marvelling at the great improvements in the road since I was last over it ll years before.  It is now paved instead of the previous gravel with calcium chloride coating.  Upon reaching the Dempster Highway (about 500 km north of Whitehorse), I filled up a small jerry can of gas in addition to filling the bikes tank and set off for Eagle Plains, about 375 km further.  I made it to Eagle Plains on the bikes gas tank (amazingly enough) and stopped for supper.  Later, since it was still light, I

rode another 100 km and decided to camp for the night at 3:00 am when it was getting difficult to ride in the extremely loose gravel.  I was often in second gear.

On the fifth day out from Surrey (July 22nd), I made it to Inuvik after riding some 4,071 km.  I stayed at the McKenzie Hotel for the princely sum of $129 a night and rewarded myself with another sumptuous meal, this time of Muskoxen pot roast!  The liveliest bar there is one called the Mad Trapper.

Because of the hotel cost, I left for Dawson City the next day and got there about 2 am on Monday after a 17 hour ride through rain squalls off and on.  Dawson City has many memories for me from my four

previous trips to the Yukon in 1970, 1977, 1984 and 1989.  One meets a lot of interesting characters in Dawson.  In the Westminster Bar, I met a Cree metis who was from a large group collecting mushrooms for $5 a pound.  Apparently this is a real industry every summer now in the Dawson area.  I also met a crazy Scot who claimed he was a king and seemed serious about it.

I stayed two nights in Dawson and then started the long trip home.  I rode to Carcross from Dawson and stayed at the Caribou Hotel there, a very old hotel where a metis in the bar tried to convince me to stay until the weekend when a special steam engine train was to come up from Skagway to celebrate the centenary of the Whitepass and Yukon Railway.  I declined due to costs.

The next day, Wednesday, July 26th, I rode south to Skagway.  The last time I was here was in 1977 when there was no road to Carcross and you had to put your car on the Whitepass and Yukon Railway to go north.  Skagway has been much developed for the tourist trade since 1977 and there are now a zillion shops to spend your money in if you are so inclined.

After lunch in Skagway, I rode back up to Carcross and onto the Alaska Highway where I retraced my journey to the junction of the Stewart/Cassiar Highway just west of Watson Lake and then turned south to head for Dease Lake.  I camped part way down and got to Dease Lake the next morning for breakfast.  I saw 6 Black bears along the way to Kitwanga where I rode onto Highway 16 and headed east to Smithers.  I stayed here the night and visited some old Forest Service friends of mine.  The next day I rode east to Prince George, then south to Williams Lake where I visited another couple of FS friends and made it home to Surrey about 1 am on July 28th after 11 days and 8,330 km of travel.  All in all a somewhat gruelling trip but decidedly worthwhile in lifes overall perspective.

Glenn Ursel

My Polar Bear Expedition to Churchill, Manitoba

Recently, I drove to Thompson, Manitoba with my mother-in-law and a brother-in-law who I picked up in Calgary.  It took us 2 days to drive to Thompson and then about 14 hours on the VIA Rail train to Churchill.  The train goes quite slowly over the muskeg and rocks around quite a bit in the process.  A ticket costs $100.

We stayed at the Tundra Inn for 2 nights at $115 per night and then rode a school type bus out to the dunebuggy for the days tour of the bear fields for $162 per person.  We had roast caribou one night and artic char the next.  Another worthwhile adventure in life!  All of us enjoyed the trip to Canadas port on the Artic.

Glenn Ursel

Fueling Safety Alert
Through safety contacts, we recently received information regarding portable gasoline cans spontaneously igniting while being filled on pickup truck bedliners.  Evidently, the plastic bedliner acts as an insulator and prevents static charges from being dissipated before fuel is dispensed into containers.  The Connecticut State Fire Marshall had received information regarding several explosions and contacted the Petroleum Equipment Institute (PEI) for additional information.  The PEI solicited members regarding incidents involving the filling of portable containers with fuel.  PEI members identified 20 accidents occurring in recent years involving the filling of portable containers with fuel.  Listed is a summary of the findings reported through the PEI to the Connecticut State Fire Marshalls Office.

     Thirteen accidents occurred while fuelling metal containers either in the plastic bed
       of a pickup truck (12 accidents) or the carpeted bed of a pickup truck (one accident).
     Four accidents occurred while filling plastic containers on the plastic-lined bed of a
      pickup truck.
     One accident occurred while filling a plastic container that was formerly in the back of
      a pickup truck.
     One accident occurred while filling a metal container on the carpeted floor of an
       automobile that had been driven with the windows open.

Lessons Learned
Evidently, portable containers riding in vehicles can accumulate a static charge as the vehicle travels from one place to another.  This occurs either from the friction of the can sliding on the bed of the pickup or the airflow around the can when the vehicle is moving.  A static charge can also be generated by the flow of gasoline into the container.  Once the charge is built up, it cannot be dissipated to the vehicle because of the insulating effect of the plastic bedliner, floor mats, or carpets.  The charge resides either on the surface of the container or in the gasoline itself.  As the person moves the metal nozzle close to the container, it is believed that a static spark jumps from the container to the nozzle.  The spark can ignite any flammable vapours present in the can or at the end of the nozzle.  The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) publication Automotive and Marine Service Code (NFPA2OA, 1993 edition) states that gasoline as well as other fuels having a flash point below 14O^oF shall be delivered into metal or other approved containers provided with tight closures and spouts or so designed that the contents can be poured without spilling.  The NFPA code further prohibits the filling of portable containers of gasoline of 12 gallons (45 liters) or less while the containers are in or on a motor vehicle or marine craft.

The following basic guidelines should be followed when filling portable containers used for fuels:

1.   Use only approved containers (approved by Factory Mutual, Underwriters
      Laboratories, or recognized local or state fire prevention authorities).
2.   Do not fill a portable container in a vehicle, a vehicles trunk, a pickup bed, or any
      surface other than the ground.  Remove the container from the vehicle.  If the
      container is too heavy to allow easy removal and placement back into the vehicle, use
      a smaller container.
3.   Keep the nozzle in contact with the portable container.
4.   Do not fill to the very top of portable container.  Gasoline expands as it warms.
5.   Never use latch-open devices to fill portable containers.
6.   Spills should be cleaned up promptly and properly.  Spills involving fuels should be
      reported to supervision and others in accordance with local, site, or division reporting
      requirements.
7.   Static electricity is worst on low humidity days.  In other words, getting gas for the
      snowblower maybe more dangerous than for the lawnmower since humidity is often
      lower in cold weather.
8.   You can lower the generation of static electricity by lowering (slowing) the transfer
      rate.

We should all follow these guidelines at home (and at the gas station and airport).  As many people use portable gasoline or other fuel containers with their cars, lawnmowers, AJVs, boats, etc., this alert should be shared with them.  We should be made aware of the hazards of refuelling portable fuel containers and the need to refuel containers while they are on the ground.

The Florida Flying Gators newsletter added the suggestion that their members use a length of flexible metal cable or braided copper wire with a clamp on both ends.  When refuelling, hook one end of the cable to the fuel container and the other end to your pickup or whatever you are using for transportation while fuelling at the service station.  Then, when refuelling your plane, make sure you hook one end of the cable to the fuel container again, and the other end to an exposed metal part on the aircraft.  Most refuelling operations at airports will already have this grounding cable available.  Its your decision to make, dont blow it!

Originally published in  the October, 2000 issue of the EAA Experimenter Magazine who reprinted it from the Florida Flying Gators Ultralight Association Inc. Banner Newsletter.