Barbecue

Saturday 4th September was also Barbecue night. Some 60 members and friends enjoyed a warm evening whilst consuming barbecue fare.

Thanks as always to head chef Richard for his deft grilling skills and to Francis and the rest of the social committee for their efforts in making this an enjoyable evening.

Visit to AAIB, Farnborough

A group of 14  members visited the Aircraft Accident Inspection Branch (AAIB) at Farnborough in mid April 2009.

EXPLANATIONS:

After being admitted through the impressive security system we passed an open air compound where the sad remains of several (mainly ‘solved’) accidents could be seen through the barriers.

We were then shown an explanatory video, which was followed by a short question and answer session led by our host for the visit Tony Severs, an accident investigator. This was in the AAIB’s recently completed HQ building and from there we were privileged to be taken into one of the two inspection hangars for a walk round and talk.

The hangar is dominated by the remains of the Lockerbie Boeing 747 where we were able to differentiate quite clearly between the damage done by the initial bombing and the subsequent structural disintegration. Although Pan Am 103 is now well in the past, the rest of the hangar contents were from considerably more recent accidents, some of which sadly could be regarded as ‘local’.

Tony gave us a brief verbal history of each accident and investigation with the cause, where known, and the obvious consequences being highlighted.

Most aircraft types were represented from Executive jets, twins, Cessna/Piper types, home-builds, helicopters, autogyros, microlights and a para-glider.

It was a moving experience for us all.

CONCLUSION:

Whilst a couple of the accidents had been attributed to structural failure, the overriding impression we all gained was of the dangers inherent in taking things too far, be it Human Factors or Aircraft Performance. All too often, it seemed to us all, the root cause or a contributing factor to the accident had been operation outside the approved envelope.

THANKS

We expressed our thanks to Tony for a most interesting visit and for the openness with which he had answered our questions.

RECOMMENDATION

If other Club members are offered the opportunity to visit the AAIB they should take it. It is a salutary experience which could just prevent you from taking similar risks.

The Club intend to organise a further visit.

Paul Haigh

Visit to Bristol ATC

A dozen club members gathered at the base of the control tower at Bristol airport on Monday 30th March at 7 30pm. Having negotiated security our host Simon Wrighton led us to the ‘Tower’ and entertained us for just over an hour with a description of the Bristol airspace and told us that ATC were actually friendly and not the ogres some people think they are.

The briefing was followed by a visit to the Radar room and then the Visual Control Room (VCR or Tower) to see ATC in action.

A very informative evening was the general consensus and several of the attendees have now vowed to talk more readily to ATC and seek Zone transits.

Awards Presentation Dinner

Some 75  club members and guests gathered at Brickhampton Court Golf Club for our 2008/9 Awards Presentation Dinner. MC Richard Crosby kept us all in order during an enjoyable evening which saw a dozen awards for First solo and PPL along with several Night Qualifications and IMC Ratings.

The prestigious Walwin Cup was awarder to Tony Chapman and the Aladdins Lamp went to Paul Turner and Rob Davis. The Daniels Trophy was not awarded this year. The citations are reproduced below.

‘The Walwin Trophy is presented in memory of Rex Walwin, a founder of this club and it’s first instructor. The trophy is presented to a student who has achieved a consistently high standard during training or has overcome a significant personal difficulty in achieving the award of a PPL. This year in recognition of his thorough preparation for lessons and to mark the fact that this student didn’t require very much effort from his instructor to ensure that the standards required were achieved the award goes to Tony Chapman.’

The Daniels Trophy, donated by Harry Daniels, a pre-war club member with a keen interest in navigation, this trophy is presented to the winners of our annual Aerial Treasure hunt. However last year due to weather and other circumstances the competition was deferred. Preparation is now underway for this year’s competition, the date for which will be announced soon. So dust off your whiz wheels and maps and have a bit of fun in the sky for 45 minutes or so.

The Aladdin’s Lamp

To commemorate that ‘I’d rather not be there’ moment. Unfortunately not with us tonight Paul Turner and Robin Davis can collectively deserve a rub of the lantern for confusing Clifton Pier with Weston Pier and subsequently taking a brief uninvited flight through the Bristol Class D airspace. They have since had their wrists collectively slapped.

Photos of the evening are on display in the club house. Copies are available if required.