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PUFA NEWSLETTER
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November 21, 2001
Ken Buck, President
Walter Klatt, Vice-President
Glenn Ursel, Treasurer
Daryl Hegyi, 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 Ken Buck
It seems that Halloween spooked a lot of people. Only six bodies were counted. A younger looking guy showed up - it was Bernie with a full head of hair. None of the rest of us had the nerve to portray anyone else. We did have a few youngsters visit the club house, thus got rid of the extra snacks.
As there was no formal meeting, we did some hanger flying. With the onset of "winter" we exchanged information on the effects of frost on leading edge and upper wing surfaces. Tests indicate that frost, the consistency of course sandpaper, say 40 grit, can reduce lift by as much as 30% and increase drag by as much as 40%.
One other item subject of discussion, was that Langley Airport now has radar as of mid October. Pitt Meadows also has the equipment. Those who have transponders can get in some practice. Those that don't have such units can rely on their onboard or portable radio.
Our next meeting on Wednesday, November 28th will be the last for this year. The plan is for a Xmas get together at Marilyn Parsons on Friday, December 7th. This will be fine tuned in the next short while. Come join us, Share the Dream!
It appears that we have a paucity of dreamers in the PUFA membership as President Ken Buck’s account of the attendance, more correctly, lack of attendance at the last meeting seems to indicate. Perhaps it was the distraction of Halloween or maybe it was my highlighting of the proposed amendments to the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARS) that produced a certain ennui... Whatever the reason, the apparent lack of interest does not bode well for the continued existence of our fair flying club.
On a happier note, I am pleased to have another story from Fred Baron entitled “The Lame Duck” which tells us about his conversion from a “landlubber flier” to a “seafaring man” on floats. Besides Fred’s usual unique style as a raconteur, the story is also interesting for the insight it gives on the early days of ultralight flying before floats came into common use.
To round out this newsletter, I have also included some current articles from the COPA Website that hopefully are of general interest. One details the new weight limits for advanced and basic ultralights as a result of changes to TP10141, "Design Standards for Advanced Ultra-light Aeroplanes" to be effective in the near future. Another article states that the letters written to Transport Canada on the issue of the amendments to CARS did have the positive effect of delaying the implementation of the amendments with perhaps some changes to result.
In case you are planning to fly over any nuclear plants in Canada, COPA
has some information on this. Finally, they have the latest on CANPASS
restrictions for those of you interested in flying to the US.
A 220 lb pilot in a 200 lb aeroplane sounds impossible but, wait, there is more: add a pair of floats and leave the wheels on the plane. Well I was a landlubber flier for many years but, with all the water around us in beautiful British Columbia, I just had to get my little bird on the water and in the air. Now I guess there is a bit of doubt by myself and my comrades that a rather portly fellow like myself could accomplish this feat but in theory the bumble bee is not supposed to be able to fly. Of course it doesn’t have floats. Well, about the time I was trying to get ready to put my big 200 lb dragon fly on floats and more like 280 lbs on floats, I had 1000 hours flying on wheels but, as a famous poet once said, I must go down to the sea again. The sea and the running tide and all I ask for is a float plane to fly over her or something like that.
Being on a limited budget, but with a burning will, I acquired a pair of fiberglass glass straight floats for my bird. Now I was not breaking new ground, or water I should say, but for me it was a momentous undertaking. I needed float plane training but with a limited budget I bought a book “How to fly floats”. I read it cover to cover twice so I was ready, I thought... But, being middle aged crazy with a will, I put all the dreaded warnings from my colleagues and friends and fellow pilots in the back of my mind. If you go away from the land, you will fall over the edge of the water and into the abyss but I was determined. So, with a lot of help from my buddies, Larry White (the inventor), Bryan Evans, Jeff Rochon, Karl Heep and Gord Denham, we proceeded to mount the plane on the floats. I had to fly the plane from the Intergalactic Aerodrome on wheels to the Fort Langley seaplane base on the mighty Fraser River which is a torrent during the spring snow runoff season. Bryan Evans took the floats in the back of his pickup truck and away we went.
There was a difference of opinion on how to mount the floats onto the plane. One opinion was to take the wheels off the plane and attach the floats to the plane but then I would have to put the wheels back on the plane and take it back to the Intergalactic Aerodrome. So it was decided to leave the wheels on the plane and, with a few bungie cords, we lifted the plane onto the floats - a huge weight of 50 lb for each of us four guys but well within the Workmen’s Compensation Board limit of 50 lb each. I took the light end!
We bungied it down and put some gas in the tank. We were ready, well, I guess the “we” should read “I” because a single seat plane ends the “we”. My friends were great but now it came down to I, me. Well I pushed off into the mighty Fraser River, drifting along like a leaf in the tide. I fired up the two powerful engines. Yes, two engines with a powerful 9 hp each as claimed by the Rotax manufacturer, not just a single engine to lift this man and his noble bird off the river and into the skies above. So I was all set. I was drifting with the current, trying to bring the little seagull into the wind because I needed lots of wind to lift the plane off the river. I had my book of how to fly floats mounted at eye level,
Fred Baron taxing his Lazair on the Fraser River
singular eye level that is. Boy, there sure were a lot of things to do. As I was trying to bring the bird into the wind, I spotted a big log in the river coming right at me. With no water rudders on the floats, I used alternate power on the engines to steer past this obstacle. I had the bird into wind now and, fortunately, had the current with me as well. I revved up the big twin engines and I roared down the river at a fast 25 mpg, saying my prayers and trying to remember all my friends’ advice as well as that I had read. It was the moment of truth. I remembered to keep it from porpoising and, to my surprise and relief, I was in the air. Can you imagine that?? I’m always amazed at what can happen with an
Fred Baron climbing out from the Fraser River
effort whether it is a big or small project. The first flight I got into the air with this lame duck but there were many other flights when I roared up and down the river with no wind and I was nothing more than a lame duck flapping my wings so the first flight was a success.
I was now not a land locked land lubber but a seafaring man! I felt like a million bucks. My friends on the bank of the river were waving and jumping up and down. I got the bird in the air but I had to get it down. For now, though, I was on floats and enjoying it. My mouth was dry but I was so excited like the first time I soloed on land. Now I must say as I come to close this story there are a few facts I do not endorse. Flying without training is one but, back then, there were no regulations or pilot licences governing our planes.
Karl Heep flying his Lazair along the Fraser River
They were real ultralights! Not like today. I defy the most seasoned pilot to look at an aircraft and tell me which one is an ultralight. Now the plane has a certificate of compliance with the manufacturer’s specifications, the pilot has a permit to fly and the plane is insured. The pilot must have a licence to operate the radio in the plane which may also be equipped with a GPS, ELT and transponder. I still own a 200 lb ultralight and have slimmed down to a 200 lb pilot but the only instrument I have in my true Lazair ultralight is a Halls airspeed indicator and altimeter.
My friends and I have flown our Lazairs on floats across the Strait of Georgia to Vancouver Island through the Gulf Islands and have put a couple of hundred hours on these birds but we graduated to Beaver ultralights on which I have accumulated 1200 hours on floats. Not that many but now we have amphib floats, water rudders and two seat aircraft. Fred Glasbergen’s Airflow Ultralight Aviation Ltd. flight school on the King George Highway in Surrey, British Columbia gives excellent instruction at the biggest ultralight field in western Canada. I asked Fred one time after I had flown 50 hours on floats “Now that I have flown 50 hours on floats, does that make me a float plane pilot?” Mr. Glasbergen, who has 10,000 hours on floats, said no that just makes you dangerous. I hope he does not say that now...
Fred Baron
On June 26, 2001 a Canadian Aviation Regulation Advisory Committee was presented with changes that will allow two-seat Advanced Ultralight Aircraft to fly with gross weights up to 1,232 lb. This is a result of changes to TP10141, "Design Standards for Advanced Ultra-light Aeroplanes."
COPA Chairman Herb Cunningham, started this initiative late in 2000
when he called a light aircraft user’s meeting. The COPA-sponsored
meeting was held in Calgary in January 2001. In that meeting, the Light
Aircraft Manufacturers Association of Canada (LAMAC) was re-established
and the process were started toward amendments to the
AULA design standards.
Transport Canada considers the Advanced Ultralight design standards to be a LAMAC document, adopted by Transport Canada. It can only be changed by LAMAC, an organization that had been dormant until the COPA-sponsored meeting revived it. LAMAC president Chris Heintz of Zenair Ltd. wrote the original TP10141 document and developed the current changes.
Two-seat AULAs will now be allowed up to have a 1,232-lb gross weight and single-seaters will go to 770 lb. This will align the Canadian AULA rules with the new Sport Aircraft category limits in the United States, allowing designs from either country to be easily accepted in the other. These new weight limits have eliminated the previous additional weight allowances for floats. The new weights must include any float equipment.
These changes to TP10141 will be effective "in the near future" according to Arlo Speer, Transport Canada chief of Recreational Aviation.
Trikes and Powered Parachutes too Additional changes to the wording
of TP 10141 should allow qualifying powered
parachute and trike designs to be accepted as Advanced Ultralights
in Canada. Trikes are ultralight airplanes based on hang glider-style
flexible wings, steered by weight shift. This change in rules will
allow qualifying trike and powered parachute designs to carry passengers
(by qualified pilots) and be flown in controlled airspace, the same as
other AULAs. For trikes and powered parachutes to qualify as Advanced
Ultralights the manufacturer will have to assess their own designs to see
if they comply with the design, engineering and flight characteristics
required in TP 10141. The manufacturer will then issue a Declaration
of Compliance for the aircraft design and it will be put on Transport Canada’s
list
of Advanced Ultralights. Individual aircraft of those types on the
list will then need a manufacturer’s signed Statement of Conformity showing
that the aircraft meet the standard for the type. These individual
aircraft can then be registered as AULAs with Transport Canada and carry
passengers. AULAs can also be flown without the requirement for helmets
and without airspace restrictions.
These new rules for Advanced Ultralights will not affect the rules for Basic Ultralights in Canada. At the present Basic Ultralights will remain at a maximum gross weight of 1,200 lb.
One issue to note is that any new Advanced Ultralights registered above the 1,200-lb gross weight will not be eligible to be moved to the Basic Ultralight category, should the owner desire to do so. Under the new weight limits any AULA designs that are found not to comply with TP10141 will be grounded unless they were previously registered at 1,200 lb or less and thus can be moved to the Basic Ultralight category. Transport Canada is aware of this issue and is taking steps to address the problem.
Adam Hunt, COPA manager membership services
Originally published by the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association on
their website located at:
http://www.copanational.org/non-members/index.htm
Feedback to built-up area regulation has effect
Transport Canada’s proposed changes to the regulations governing aircraft
landing and taking off within built-up areas has been delayed by negative
response from COPA and the aviation community. (See, “Heads-up departing
built-up areas,” COPA Newsletter, October 2001.) The intent of the
changes is to hold pilots more responsible for arriving
and departing anywhere other than certified airports and military aerdromes.
“Except at an airport or military aerodrome, no person shall conduct a
takeoff, approach or landing in an aircraft over a built-up area or over
an open-air assembly of persons, in a manner that is likely to create a
hazard to persons or property.” This is an issue that COPA has been
working on since 1996. COPA President Kevin Psutka managed to effect changes
to the original, more restrictive proposal. The main problem remaining
for the aviation community is the wording, “likely to create a hazard.”
The undefined word “likely” is open to broad interpretations. Transport
Canada received a negative response from many aviators when the proposed
rules were published in the Canada Gazette 1. Normally rules “Gazetted”
go before Parliament within a few months. Transport’s Regulatory Affairs
office told COPA that because of the response there will at least be a
delay and perhaps changes made tot he rules. Thank you to all the
COPA members and other aviation associations who added their feedback to
COPA’s. Contact Kevin Psutka.
Originally published by the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association on their website located at: http://www.copanational.org/non-members/index.htm
About flights over nuclear power plants
COPA members have inquired about flight restrictions over nuclear power plants. Adam Hunt, COPA manager of Membership Services, checked with Nav Canada. As of Oct. 17, 2001, there is no NOTAM restricting flight over nuclear power plants in Canada. Overflight restrictions continue at nuclear facilities at Chalk River, Ont., and Whiteshell, Man. They are clearly marked on navigation charts. To be sure, check NOTAMS before flying. Contact a Nav Canada Flight Service Station, Tel.: 800-INFO FSS.
Originally published by the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association on
their website located at:
http://www.copanational.org/non-members/index.htm
CANPASS remains suspended
Now that light aircraft are allowed to fly across the Canada-U.S. border,
COPA members have been asking about the status of CANPASS. CANPASS remains
suspended as it has been since the events of September 11. CANPASS
is the Canada Customs and Immigration program that allowed pilots and passengers
to clear into Canada at certain designated airports that are not airport-of-entry.
Canada Customs could not give an estimate as to when it will be realistically
re-instated or even if it will be re-instated at some point. Aside
from the suspension of CANPASS, pilots are reminded that not all Airports
of Entry are authorized for Customs clearance. The designation of
an airport of entry in the Canada Flight Supplement has been superceded
by the master Canada Customs list of acceptable airports to enter Canada.
This list, along with the required procedures is available in English at:
www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/customs/individuals/canpass/canpass-e.html.
Originally published by the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association on their website located at: http://www.copanational.org/non-members/index.htm