February and the HB Summer Continues
February and the HB summer continues.
A little rain this week but in reality, unless it’s going to continue, we’d be better off without it. I know some will vilify me for that but HB summers don’t end in Feb.
The 3 month outlook is dryer than normal. History will tell whether that was accurate.
My 3 weeks holiday with plans for lots of flying with my students pretty much came to nought due to the BLOODY wind.
Jonty and Rueben are both now on the watch this space for first solos but the conditions just haven’t been suitable.
Derek Simmons did see a tiny window ahead for his final solo cross countries and completed a nearly 5 hr trip to Gisborne, Whakatane, Rotorua and home. He arrived back in Waipuk with the window closing and a reasonable cross wind present. I have to admit I watched his arrival with some anxiety but he pulled off a textbook cross wind landing in CHB. I think he was pleased to be back as the heat of the day had started to build making the 2nd half of the trip a bit niggly. A flight test and Derek will back in the pax realm and Shirley will be able accompany him on his adventures.
We have another new aircraft based on the field. A very fine Zlin, Savage Cub is now sharing the stable with Ross Hatfull’s Jodel. We flew to lake Rerewhakiatu near Rotorua a few weeks ago and checked it out and flew it. Ross subsequently bought it and we flew back up last week and brought it home. Ross is feeling like he’s starting all over again after just getting comfortable in CHB but we’ve already made good progress and he’ll soon be in it on his own. It’s a fine aeroplane and will create a lot of interest at the club and Ross will have a lot of fun in it.
Aaron Patchett had turned his back on Tiger BEF in favour of a rating in a Pitts at Hastings over the summer. To be fair, the fact that BEF had been out of the air sans propeller may have had something to do with it. He came back to her last weekend in the heat and wind and was reminded that the different wing loadings of the Pitts and Tiger make for totally different handling. All good experience. Aaron is one of those passionate pilots who want to fly anything they can get their hands on. He has youth on his side, plus, and I risk getting a clip under the ear, is single.
172 FGJ, has some minor corrosion on her belly. This needs to be addressed now before it becomes serious. Sometime within the next 6 months, we will book her in at HB Aviation at Hastings. The engineers there are happy for us to do the donkey work under their supervision. It will be a 2 or 3 day job so rather than lumber a small number of people with a big job, it would be great if we could have a good number of volunteers and spread their labour over the time. Lets get a list of people prepared to help now so that we can assign our labours to best advantage.
Please let me know if you are able to help. Remember, it’s these kinds of tasks that help to keep the charge out rates down.
It’s not feasible for the club to purchase new aircraft at this point in time so the alternative is to maintain the fleet to a high standard.
He following from John Hamilton, Director of the Walsh Memorial Scout Flying School.
The Walsh Scout Flying School was held at Matamata airfield during the period 11-25 January. The school mustered a combined fleet of sixteen Cessna 152s and Piper Tomahawks, and 28 experienced flying instructors ready to coach the 70 students. Forty four of the students were ab initio and had not flown an aircraft before. Their objective was to attain the solo standard in the two weeks of the camp. The remainder were returning students who wished to consolidate the flying carried out in the previous year. Despite losing a couple of days to bad weather (low cloud base, turbulence and crosswind) the School got 40 ab initio students away for their first solo with an average of about 8 hours dual. It was an intensive and demanding time for the students and the success relied heavily on the students’ commitment and the patience of the flying instructors. Having soloed, students had the opportunity to experience other aircraft which included a Nanchang, Citabria, Airtourer, Airtrainer, a Super STOL, a Tiger Moth and the Ercoupe. The guest speaker at the final prize-giving dinner was Lea Giblin who spoke eloquently and with conviction about her flying experiences and the challenges she faced. Also present at the dinner to present awards and to explain opportunities in the aviation sector were Captain David Morgan, Air New Zealand’s Chief Pilot, Air Commodore Darryn Webb, the RNZAF’s Air Component Commander, and representatives for Airways, the MetService, CAA and Aspeq.
The 2017 camp was a great success and represents a fantastic opportunity for youth of between 16-19 years of age to be introduced to flying. Applications to attend Walsh are taken mid-year and candidates should monitor the Scout website , which will show when applications can be made and provides the forms. Prospective students need to have completed a medical and save the approx. $2000 funds required.
Regards
John
Many thanks John. That must really be a well oiled machine. Congratulations to all involved.
The following from Neil Faulknor:
I have been reading a little booklet found in my father's stuff, "Our Yesterdays" Compiled for Age by Karen Harris. Stan Murphy is mentioned in two articles concerning an accident that I had not heard of.
The first by George Bellamy, entitled "Pakuratahi 1932-1942.
April 25 1938 saw the tremendous flood. Blocked roads, bridges washed away, fences down or buried, pastures covered with silt, rocks, and logs - it was a time of stress. Adding to the stress was the crash of the Tiger Moth plane piloted by Mr. A..W.Britton and his dropper Mr. S.J.Murphy. Both were seriously injured Mr. Britton had fractured vertebrae) and no medical attention or information was obtainable, due to the flood damage, for approximately 24 hours.
The second article "In Remembrance" by Deirdre Lee (nee Sutton).
A week or so after the 1938 flood, a Tiger Moth aircraft crashed just thirty yards in front of Olive's house. The two men on board were badly injured, and cared for by Olive, Rimu and their neighbours for 26 hours until help arrived; Olive's part in this, was to see that the pilot, whom they suspected had spinal injuries, was kept as still as possible, with someone in constant attendance, and to prevent well-meaning persons from administering alcohol to the observer, who was very badly cut about the head and had severe concussion. The arrival of Doctor Waterworth on horseback, and two St. John's Ambulance Association stretcher parties on foot, was a tremendous relief.
The pilot did have a fractured spine, but he recovered, and served in the R.N.Z.A.F. during the Second World War. In December 1988, the family were touched to receive a card of condolence from Mr. Stan Murphy of Waipukurau, who was the observer in the plane that crashed.
Thanks Neil. Very interesting. I spoke to Peter Murphy, Stan’s nephew, to see if he knew of the crash. He had and has dug out some more info on it. I’ll get that from Peter in the future and may include in a later issue.
The Gordonton Microlight Club from Hamilton, who visited us for a weekend last year, have invited us to a return visit. They suggest the weekend of the 6th and 7th of May. As I wrote that down I realised that that is duck opening so that will immediately take out several possibles. Let me know anyway if it’s something that may interest you and we’ll make a plan from there.
Duty Pilot list:
Feb 12th: Peter Steers
Feb 19th: Matt Durham
Feb 26th: Richard King
March 5th: Peter McHenry
March 12: Bruce Knight
March 19th: Thomas Morgans
March 26th: Vaughn Donald
April 2nd: Athol Sowry
April 9th: Ron Day
April 16th: Simon White
Remember, if you can’t make your day, swap with someone else on the list or contact CC Phil Gray.
The Wings over Wairarapa airshow is coming up at Masterton in a couple of weeks. I’m not sure if anyone is planning on flying in but one of our members, Brian Oakley, is keen to go so if anyone has a spare seat, please let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Brian.
I recently had the pleasure of attending one of our older member’s 90th birthday celebrations. Ray, “Speed” Turnbull reached this wonderful milestone. It was an enjoyable celebration among family and friends and we extend our congratulations and best wishes to you Ray. Interestingly, John Armstrong recently came across a paper Ray wrote on pitch control in windshear conditions with particular reference to large jet aircraft. This was a few years ago and caused some serious discussion and interest at the time. The draft is now at the clubhouse and makes interesting reading and generates some good discussion.
At the last committee meeting I suggested that the area to the west of the enrance way off the main road needed a makeover. There is a strip of land up against the neihbours that for some reason is unimproved and rough and over grown. I think there may have been an attempt to plant some trees or something against the boundary fence in the past. This is one area which is a blot on the general airfield and I’m sure we could do something with it. Have a look next time you drive in and come up with some suggestions.
Clem Powel’s hangar is well under construction and when completed will leave 2 spaces in the gliding hangar for extra aircraft. Great to see development on the field and the potential for more aircraft in the future.
What to finish with?
Some humour or the star gazing? How about both.
Mechanics toolkit part 1
HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate expensive parts not far from the object we are trying to hit.
MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on boxes containing seats and motorcycle jackets.
ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning steel Pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age, but it also works great for drilling mounting holes in fenders just above the brake line that goes to the rear wheel.
PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads.
HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
VISE-GRIPS: Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your garage on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside a brake drum you're trying to get the bearing race out of.
WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16 or
1/2 socket you've been searching for the last 15 minutes.
DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your drink across the room, splattering it against that freshly painted part you were drying.
WIRE WHEEL: Cleans rust off old bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprint whorls and hard-earned guitar calluses in about the time it takes you to say, "Ouc...."
HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering a motorcycle to the ground after you have installed your new front disk brake setup, trapping the jack handle firmly under the front fender.
EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2X4: Used for levering a motorcycle upward off a hydraulic jack.
Part 2
TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters.
PHONE: Tool for calling your neighbor to see if he has another hydraulic
floor jack.
SNAP-ON GASKET SCRAPER: Theoretically useful as a sandwich tool for
spreading mayonnaise; used mainly for getting dog-doo off your boot.
E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool that snaps off in bolt holes and
is ten times harder than any known drill bit.
TIMING LIGHT: A stroboscopic instrument for illuminating grease buildup.
TWO-TON HYDRAULIC ENGINE HOIST: A handy tool for testing the tensile
strength of ground straps and brake lines you may have forgotten to
disconnect.
CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large motor mount prying tool that
inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end without
the handle.
BATTERY ELECTROLYTE TESTER: A handy tool for transferring sulfuric acid
from a car battery to the inside of your toolbox after determining that
your battery is dead as a doornail, just as you thought.
AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.
PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the lids of old-style
paper-and-tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt; can also be used, as
the name implies, to round off Phillips screw heads.
AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning
power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that
travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty
bolts last tightened 60 years ago by someone in Springfield, and rounds
them off.
PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket
you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.
HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses 1/2 inch too short.
It Is Too Rocket Science
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used?
Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US Railroads.
Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did "they" use that gauge then?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads?
Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.
And the ruts in the roads?
Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for! an Imperial Roman war chariot. And bureaucracies live forever
So the next time you are handed a spec and told we have always done it that way and wonder what horse's ass came up with that, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses.
Now the twist to the story...
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site.
The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is bout as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.
And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important.
After all that who needs stars?
Take The Spoon Out Of The Sink
Ross Macdonald