Summer at last
Summer at last
The days go to
30° Centigrade under a blazing Sun, which means it's summer...
But we are expecting another winter low this coming weekend with
a few doses of rain.
Is it climate change that is forcing the Arctic Air Mass to lower
latitudes such that the Jetstream is taking a very wavy path
creating heat waves below its north loops, and winter style
storms, monsoons perhaps, during its southern loops?
I have flown six
times so far this month, four as passenger, more than many but
wholly insufficient to maintain my own standard of proficiency.
Hopefully I will check out in a Super Cub in the next few days
and then bring myself up to scratch again.
If I am unable to do this, maybe it's time to quit flying for a
while as if I am not doing it to a high level of competence then
I'd rather not do it at all.
Money of course is short, and I am wondering what I should be
doing in life.
"Get a proper job" I've been told many times.
A friend of mine
advised me that I could train to be a truck driver, there's a
shortage!
I hate driving... I drove too much on Vancouver roads, a horrible
experience even compared to driving in Bangkok. At least off the
motorways it is mostly pleasant to drive here in England with
many interesting things to see along the way. It's especially fun
driving the MX-5 with the roof down.
I did the Class
Rating Instructor rating, but so far this has not produced any
business for me... Flights in the Auster could have been, but
these were made during the time I was uncertain as to whether the
CAA would issue the rating to me.
It's a bit like when I did the TEFL course in Thailand, how often
have I used it? I use it a little now, writing English words
using Thai script to help a friend to learn. She reads Thai
better than Roman script, and I can write in Thai!
I have never been
sure what I am supposed to be doing in this life, I fell into
flying instructing naturally, but it never produced a proper
return for me. What should I have done to produce a comfortable
life for myself; one which attracted someone else to make the
effort to be a companion perhaps?
Never mind, time goes fast when you're past retirement age, so
make the best of it.
Flying with Geoffrey Pilgrim from Redhill, 3rd July
Geoffrey is a
friend of a friend in Canada, he went to BCIT, and for a while he
worked at Boundary Bay.
Now he is an engineer working at Heathrow. I took him for a
flight in the Warrior from Redhill; 'can't do this too often as
the aeroplane rental combined with a £25 landing fee really cuts
into my funds.
For three days in July I had the responsibility to look after
these three cats
Years ago we had a
Christen inverted oil system fitted to the Decathlon.
To test it I rolled the aeroplane while looking at the oil
pressure gauge, it didn't move, and I was happy.
The next modification was to fit a spin-on oil filter to replace
the original gauze screen filter. I rolled the aeroplane again...
This time the oil pressure dropped off, and only recovered into
the low yellow arc when the aeroplane was inverted. I was not
impressed.
I am so
unimpressed I would not modify an aeroplane of mine from the
original gauze screen to the paper spin-on filter. I never had
any problem with O-200 engines making their time with the
original screen filters, and fifty hour oil changes.
This spin-on filter mod proved to be unviable in the A65 engine.
When the engine was hand started the oil pressure refused to rise
and so the engine had to be shut down before any permanent damage
was done.
The culprit appears to be a non-return flap built into the
filter, there to prevent oil emptying the filter drum and thereby
not feeding the engine bearings soon after engine start. This non-return system is perhaps too strong for
the oil pump to be able to pump the oil through on start, and so
whereas the oil would be well filtered, the chances are the
bearings would soon begin to "make metal"!
With the system returned to standard, the oil pressure returned
to normal.
Not all good modifications are good for all engines.
Here's a good idea
It's been many years since
I saw Rich Wald and that was in Vancouver... Before that I
visited him and Alison in France, and before that we were
partners in a Condor and a Slingsby at Goodwood.
He flew into Headcorn while John and I were there... Perhaps one
day I'll get to fly his J3 Cub again.
Tiger Club
With the oil pressure
restored, John took me for a flight over to Damyn's Hall which is
the home of the last vestiges of the Tiger Club.
It is not the Tiger Club I was a member of in the 1970's and
early 1980's though it has a couple of the aeroplanes we flew
back then.
After decades of argument G ACDC (version # whatever!), has had
anti spin strakes fitted. This Tiger Moth has been spun for more
than seven decades without a problem. Since it does not have bomb
racks fitted below its interplane struts, it has never needed
anti spin strakes.
Once again as we flew
across Kent and the Thames Estuary into Essex the cancerous
plague of new housing estates blotted the landscape. For whom are
these millions of new houses?
Can England sustain this huge population growth?
Austering
The plan was to do some
Austering, but the reality was that Michael was unhappy about the
dribble of fuel in the bttom of the tanks... This meant a trip to
the petrol station to add enough fuel to go to Headcorn with a
reasonable reserve. Time consuming.
Headcorn has Avgas 91 which is unleaded and so a lot healthier
for most light aeroplane engines designed before the age of TEL.
Travels in Kent
Monday to Thursday I took
on the huge responsibility to look after the pussy cats and water
the garden in Dover.
During this time I went on day trips out.
First to Folkestone for essential Thai food, and onwards to the
Romney, Hythe, and Dymchurch railway.
Next to Sandwich where I stopped for tea and a sandwich before
continuing to Manston and its museum, and then to Margate for the
sea side.
Finally I went to Hawkinge where there is a museum commemorating
the Battle of Britain airfield now occupied by a housing estate.
Unlike Manston, this museum does not allow photographs to be
taken as criminals have used this to target their valuable
collection.
Manston allows photography, Hawkinge does not.
Checkout
I was not pleased with my
flight in the Warrior, we flew in a little bit of a hurry
straight after I had arrived. My performance was not optimal, but
then I am not flying often like I used to.
The last flight in a Warrior from Redhill went well, with no
problems and a nice smooth landing.
My landings in the Auster were all smooth, and likewise in the
Cessna 185... Sometimes I am off my game, and in these strange
Covid times we need to take our time.
In my mind were the noise sensitive areas, and woe betide if you
get a complaint... The pilot is considered at fault. It's a
distraction, and some UK airfields have a lot of areas to avoid
when flying the circuit.
Nevertheless I can rent a Warrior from WLAC if and when one is
available. It's a busy fleet.