Happy New Year of the Snake
On Thursday 9th
January it was a freezing -2º Centigrade in Devon but it was
also SKC (SKy Clear) and so the day was expected to warm up as we
had the long drive back to Guildford.
Just west of a Starbucks and ESSO station on the A303 is the
Willoughby Hedge Café in a layby. It's the place to go for a
reasonably priced tea, coffee, and snacks. They also do cooked
food. (It's on Google maps).
When the owner David is there, it's also a place to talk
aeroplanes.
We stopped off, and I had a Lardy Cake and a coffee.
Next stop of
course was Popham Airfield which always welcomes visitors.
There was hot Potato Soup, brown bread and butter, and a tea to
be had for lunch.
I pulled the Aircoupe out and did an economical twenty five
minute flight.
England is very sociable, and every Thursday night we usually meet at the Bricklayers Arms in Shamley Green, and this was essential to me as I won't be able to go for a while.
Seldom used
skills
I have a long
history in aviation and have worked in aircraft maintenance and
inspection.
In life I was taught to accept what people think, and this is not
a good idea. You do need to defend yourself sometimes, your
reputation depends upon it, and of course you have to assure
potential employers of your competency.
Aviation is full of egos, and from my point of view, if a person
professes to be skilled and qualified to do a particular task I
expect them to do their job properly. I have been disappointed
many times, and it has cost me royally.
And so it was that
I was asked what was wrong with the magneto on a friends' new
Lycoming engine.
There was much discussion by text on WhatsApp, and this lead to
voice and video calls.
What a fantastic idea it was to a younger Michael, talking over
the internet, long distance, and almost free!
The owner had
called tech support around the world, and was even asked if the
battery was correctly connected to his magneto!
Eventually we determined that the timing was 90/270º out, it was
firing number 4 when it should have been firing number 1.
I got my hands on it, set the mag mid range, and timed it 25º
BTDC, and all's well with the world.
Something like 300 hours TT, 160hp, fixed pitch.
Advanced Avionics (Dynon) glass cockpit, Garmin Avionics.
RV9A components included, 'was originally an 'A' as first flown
and tested by me.
4.8 million Baht, but open to offers.
My brother Gary in
Canada is an expert in electronics, and specifically avionics and
so through a call using (Meta) Messenger I was able to help sort
a radio problem out.
The Tx had stayed on after the transmit button was released. It
turned out that if you connect the microphone jack incorrectly
the capacitor in the microphone will keep the transmit on until
it discharges! Problem sold with a bit of soldering.
All of this ability to communicate across the world would have
made a huge difference to my business life in the 1980's.
The new RV8 replacement for the
RV9
When flight testing an RV9A back in Canada I learned that the feeble brakes fitted to RVs burn out very quickly from new, and so I sorted the RV8's brakes out before they did likewise. What you need to do is to rough up the brake pads with Emery cloth to take the smooth finish off them.
The MOT, Insurance and Tax was renewed on my (KIA) Ford Aspire.
Did I forget to
mention that I flew on Qatar Airways to Doha, and on to Bangkok
last month...
First leg was on an A380, very nice, but the well used 777 for
the second leg wasn't as posh.
Are we fans of the
Jabiru engine?
In England a friend had been told by an expert to run his engine
only on Avgas 100LL, so one day there was a cylinder out. This
was easy to see on today's cylinder by cylinder electronic
instrumentation. A valve had stuck in with the lead deposited by
this awful fuel. This meant the pushrod had come off its rocker,
and was now working the edge of the rocker cup thereby not
allowing the valve to close.
Here a couple of years ago in a Jabiru aeroplane we could hear the clack clacking of collapsed hydraulic lifters. This took a few stops and starts to get oil into the lifters to make them work and stop the noise. I am sure that many troubles with the Jabiru engine come from flying with collapsed lifters.
Another Jabiru,
and many more coincident problems:
1. the engine reaches maximum RPM and then it drops off, losing
400 RPM. To me this is likely fuel flow with a restriction in the
fuel system (TBC). Do not leave Mogas sitting for long periods,
it leaves gum deposits, and I suspect this is the source of the
problem.
2. There were weak sparks and no sparks on some sparking plugs.
One of the HT plug cables fell apart... A new set of cables has
solved most of this problem. Problem tracing continues...
I hope to be able to fly this Citabria from BFA at Pattaya
Eastern
I have applied for
a Thai Validation of my Canadian CPL.
There have been delays as CAAT asked me to submit the same
documents several times, and there's confusion of course.
Light General
Aviation is going to be killed off by enhanced new EASA rules
enacted by the CAAT.
First was banning flying clubs from giving Private Pilot Licence
training. CAAT already had imposed a 60 flight hour non approved
flight training program on the clubs whilst the ATO
Schools/Colleges remained at 40 hours.
If you want to do a PPL here in Thailand it will cost you a lot
more through having to go to the 'professional' schools.
The CAAT is also
imposing 'Type Ratings' on PPLs. You will have to get training
and a sign off from one of the professional schools and pay CAAT
1,000 Baht to put the Type Rating on your licence.
You have a Type Rating in a Cessna 172? You will need another one
to fly a PA28.
If the school is not familiar with your aircraft type you will
need to lend it to them for their instuctor to get training in it
before giving you training in it.
Tailwheel?
The instructor will need to be trained in tailwheel and on the
type all at your expense!
Every second year you will need to go to the school and do a course to renew your type rating.
The school's want
to offer Upset Recovery Training (UPRT) for airline pilots.
A group of instructors have been selected.
It's difficult to find instructors with aerobatic and tailwheel
experience in Thailand.
They want to borrow an Extra 300 to train these selected
instructors and a French aerobatic champion is being employed to
do the training in line with the EU organisation, EASA.
This time of the year is when burning takes place on the fields,
and mountains
rendering the air to become dangerous to breathe. The Air Quality
Index goes red.
There were several
reasons for me to spend 2,995 Baht to fly on Thai Lion Air to
U-Tapao airport.
Daren was down there by road to see a USN aircraft carrier and
wanted company to drop by several airfields on a driveabout.
I also wanted to drop some things brought from England for friends in Jomtien, and to visit Pattaya Eastern Air Park.
Over a couple of
days we visited Klaeng where they are busy dropping parachutists
from a Kodiak, then Eastern of course, and onwards to Banana
where Pilatus Porters and PT6s are expertly being restored in an
impressively clean and professional building.
Nong Khor is also busy with parachutists and is the home of
autogyros in Thailand.
Bang Phra where the Thai Flying Club is a victim of the new
rules. Whereas it was busy with students learning to fly at their
leisure for many years, this facility is now denied.
Roadsides here are littered with aeroplanes if you're looking.
Burapha-Thid Flying Association is fighting to keep some light
aircraft flying available.
Ultralight/microlight flying has so far not been subject to the draconian new rules and so it is still possible to get a dual flight with a Thai UL instructor.
Onwards and
northwards
The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative seems to be extending into
Thailand.
New high speed standard gauge railways are being built above
existing railways.
New highway construction too.
We stopped by Khao Yai where they have yet another parachute drop zone.
Back in Nonghoi I
was without my car, I'd loaned it to George while he was up here
with the Citabria and I told him to leave it at Nok Airfield when
he flew south.
Ed kindly offered me a lift to the field at 07:00, so a short
night's sleep for me.
While I helped sort a snag out in another aeroplane Ed changed
the oil in the Tecnam and now it needed a flight or two, so I
went for a few circuits.
I taught Ed to fly in 2007, Cessna 150, 152, and finished off in
the Tecnam. Different times when flying was a lot different to
now.
Website:
I will renew the website if I see my credit card again... Carlos
has kindly offered to sponsor this renewal.
