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� Hawker Hunter sets FTD at Goodwood Festival of Speed � The best airshow action from home and abroad � Turning back after engine failure on takeoff
The ultimate motorgliderStemme S6Anything and everything you can fly
PLUS
P2010 tested on the eve of certification
New four-seaterFlying to Spain for the first event
F1 air racer
August 2014 £3.99
Why we are facing a maintenance crisis
ENGINEERING MATTERS!
What could be better than Wickenby?
AIRFIELD PROFILE
This summer’s go-to events
EVENT CALENDAR
THIS MONTH
15 hours of IMC flight trainingWORTH £3,000
WIN!
LANDIN
G VOU
CHERS
WORTH £5
3
INSID
E!
www.pilotweb.aero
August 2014 | Preflight
There are now even more ways of keeping in touch with the editorial team’s flying adventures and plans — follow us on Twitter and find photos and news on Facebooktwitter.com/pilot_magfacebook.com/pilotmagazine
A s I write, the flying season really has
taken off and all our contributors are out getting some use from their aircraft. GA not being a huge world, we keep bumping into each other: as a
member of the Vintage Aircraft Club and the owner of what is deemed ‘an interesting old aeroplane’, I was invited in June to the Bicester Heritage brunch.
Having been saved from becoming a housing estate following the RAF’s departure, this wonderful Buckinghamshire airfield is now home to a very active civvie gliding club, a number of light aircraft, and a growing number of vintage and classic cars and associated businesses.
The brunch was primarily an old car event, but drew a fine selection of fly-in visitors, including this issue’s flying adventurer Trevor Jarvis, who brought along his Taylor Titch racer Catch 22, and regular ‘Race Report’ contributor Nigel Lamb. Nigel rather eclipsed all the other vintage aviators — even the Millers, père et fils, with their immaculate DH Dragon Rapide — by turning up in P-51 Mustang Ferocious Frankie.
It was nice to be able to congratulate Nigel in person for his first Red Bull Air Race win, described in the last issue. It was also interesting for me and Philip Whiteman, Editor
other onlookers to discover how knowledgeable he is on the Mustang and WWII fighter operations — and if you turn to page 20 you will discover how Nigel came to have this insight.
A week later, Digital Editor Jenny Ross and I were at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where we met these days rather less regular contributor Colin Goodwin (rest assured, fans; he will be back). While we were fantasizing about investing in either the Beech Bonanza or Guimbal Cabri G2 on display (see p.7), helicopter flight tester and columnist Pat Malone was, unbeknown to us, limbering up to demonstrate the new Arial Ace motorcycle on the hill. You may have read about the Arial in The Sunday Times: writing about motorcycles is Pat’s day job — his aviation column appears on p.24.
In between times, I met up with photographer Keith Wilson when I flew a rather nice new diesel-engined aeroplane from an airfield in Essex, and I was buzzed at his own strip by Nick Bloom in his freshly-revived Tipsy Nipper. You will be reading about these aircraft in future editions so, as the old TV cliché has it, stay tuned folks!
Contributing to this issue...
NIGEL LAMBIn writing about some of the special training required for Red Bull Air Racing and his warbird activities, Nigel gives the back-story to his flying (p.20)
PAT MALONEWe mention his motorcycle demo hill-climb activities above: as you’ll see on p.24 Pat takes off in yet another direction for his regular column
DAVE UNWINWe were impressed by Tecnam’s new P Twenty-Ten, but Dave doesn’t allow its many good features to blind him to one or two little faults. Flight Test p.26
NICK BLOOMNow he is enjoying a two-plane fleet, with a biplane or monoplane to choose from, Nick’s airfield visits are fly-in jobs. Share the pleasure with him from p.77
TREVOR JARVISF1 air racer and hand-propper extraordinaire (Taylor Titches and the Editor’s Cub), Trevor turns in a classic Flying Adventure, starting on p.55
A small but happy worldEditorialWrite to Pilot, Archant Specialist, 3 The Courtyard, Denmark Street, Wokingham RG40 2AZ
Editor Philip Whiteman Tel 0118 989 7246 Email [email protected]
Digital Editor Jenny RossTel 0118 989 7245 Email [email protected]
Designer Carine (Kitty) ThomasEmail [email protected]
Contributing Editors James Allan, Bob Grimstead,Mike Jerram & Peter R March Flight Test Editor Dave UnwinEngineering Consultant Andy McLuskieRegular contributors Nick Bloom, Alan Brown, Colin Goodwin, Geoff Jones, Pat Malone, Don Peterson, Peter Turner & Keith Wilson Digital Apprentice Mac Hooper
AdvertisingDeputy Sales Manager Richard Marsland Tel 0118 989 7237 Email [email protected] Executive Cheryl Butcher.Tel 0118 989 7238 Email [email protected] Brand Manager Ross ArnoldTel 0118 989 7220 Email [email protected]
ProductionProduction Coordinator Michael Godden Tel 01603 772876 Email [email protected] Technician Neil PuttnamPublishing Director Peter TimperleyManaging Director, Archant Lifestyle Will Hattam
Subscriptions, binders & back issuesWrite to: Pilot, Tower House, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 9EF Visit www.subscriptionsave.co.uk or tel: 0844 848 5232 or overseas tel: +44 1858 438840. See page 76 for the latest subscription offer
Want to sell Pilot in your club?Contact Kay Tel 020 7429 4043 Wholesale and retail distribution If you have difficulty obtaining a copy please contact: Seymour, 86 Newman St, London, W1T 3EX. Tel 0207 429 4000 Printed in England by William Gibbons Origination Archant Specialist
Pilot is published by Archant Specialist, a division of Archant Community Media Ltd. The entire content is © copyright, and none of it may be reproduced in any form without permission. (Permission to make a limited number of photocopies is usually given, but should be sought.)Articles for consideration are welcome. Advice to contributors is available free from Pilot’s editorial office on receipt of an SAE marked ‘Advice’ in the top left-hand corner, or on our website or by e-mail.
We take good care of material submitted, but do not accept responsibility for loss or damage, however caused.
www.pilotweb.aero Pilot August 2014 | 3
Contents | August 2014
Follow us on @Pilot_mag
/Pilotmagazine
ON THE COVER
26 Tecnam P Twenty-Ten We fly the first European four-seat
single to be certified in fourteen years
41 Engineering Matters! Is the aviation engineering sector
facing the perfect storm?
55 F1 Air Racing As if flying a Taylor Titch to Spain
wasn’t enough of a challenge...
62 Stemme S6 If you ever win the Lottery, don’t
forget to buy us this motorglider!
77 Wickenby A former WWII bomber station is
getting ready for the upturn...
90 Calendar The top aviation events taking place
around the UK and further afield
£1 OFF£1 OFFPre-order the September issue and SAVE £1 OFF the cover price with FREE UK delivery! RRP £3.99.
Go to www.buyamag.co.uk/Pilot
US
E D
ISC
OU
NT
CO
DE
F1 Air Racing
Airfield Profile: Wickenby
Special Feature: Engineering
4 | Pilot August 2014 www.pilotweb.aero
Flight Test: Stemme
‘Notes’ FoS photo report
explained that the bright yellow little
aeroplane would look good on camera as
all the other faster racers went past it.
To cut a long story short, I started out
from Hinton-in-the-Hedges on Saturday 24
May 2014, setting course for Goodwood to
refuel before crossing the Channel direct to
Deauville LFRG. During the run-up to the
trip I had spent some time deliberating on
the route down to Spain, but−with a 38.5
litre fuel tank−every time I factored in
various winds, the whole route structure,
fuel stops and diversions had to be
changed. I looked at so many
combinations and permutations that I
researched just about every airfield in
France and eventually settled on taking my
old RAF 140nm nav rule (which was one
sector in still air) and planning on the
hoof. Several ex Search and Rescue pilot
friends questioned my wisdom of not
taking the shortest Channel crossing but
the Titch hadn’t missed a beat in the year I
had owned her so it was a calculated risk
which I was prepared to accept.
At Goodwood I donned my lifejacket
and ensured that my McMurdo sponsored
Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) was
attached to me, and close to hand.
Crossing the Channel in good weather was
my primary objective for the whole trip as
I don’t have an artificial horizon, just a
slip-ball and card compass. The weather
was perfect, I didn’t tell the Titch she was
Fifty years ago John Taylor
submitted the drawings for the
Titch as an entry to the 1964
Norman Jones (Rollason Aircraft
and Engines Ltd) sponsored
Midget Racer Design Competition. The
competition was set up to encourage
British subjects to design a sporting midget
racer aircraft that could also be flown and
used by an average club pilot. By
November 1964 the entries were judged
and John Taylor’s Titch design was
awarded second place−a team of young
design engineers employed by the British
Aircraft Corporation (BAC) at Luton took
first place with the Beta.
I bought Titch G-AYZH in April 2013
from Terry Gardner, who had taken on the
plans-build project in 2001 after its two
previous owners had failed to complete
the aircraft, first registered in 1972. Terry
completed ‘Zulu Hotel’ in April 2007 and
flew her out of Wolverhampton
(Halfpenny Green) for six years until he
needed the hangar space for his soon to be
completed Cassutt racer. As you can
imagine, there is no dual to solo check-ride
with a single-seater so a little time was
spent taxying around the airfield, getting
used to the controls and cockpit
environment until I felt confident enough
to open the throttle and get airborne.
From the first leap into the skies of
Wolverhampton the Titch was an absolute
delight to fly; manoeuvrable, predictable,
vice-free and just great fun. Although a
little apprehensive approaching for my first
landing, I needn’t have been, the flare and
touchdown were progressive and smooth,
with stick forces and movement
harmonising with the decreasing speed.
Next stop was her new home at Hinton
where I was confident enough with the
landing characteristics to use the 500
metre grass strip.
The Taylor Titch had limited success as
a racer in the 1970s and 80s but ‘Zulu
Hotel’ certainly looked the part with her
bright yellow paintwork, teardrop sliding
canopy and carbon fibre spinner and
instrument panel. Unfortunately Formula
One air racing had reached its pinnacle in
UK by the mid 1980s and until this year no
pylon racing had taken place for over
fifteen years. I was therefore intrigued to
see an article in one of the online aviation
newsletters promoting a Formula One air
race scheduled to take place on 1 June
2014 at Lleida International Airport
(LEDA) in Catalonia, Spain. I sent the
organisers my best wishes and a few
photographs by email and also suggested
that if they had any vintage support races
in future years, I might be able to
participate with the Titch. To my surprise I
got a swift reply from Air Race F1 CEO Jeff
Zaltman, inviting me down to Lleida with
the Titch. In a later telephone call he
Flying Adventure | Racing in Spain
www.pilotweb.aero Pilot August 2014 | 55
Flying a Taylor Titch to Spain would be challenge enough for some, but then to enter an F1 race in it...By Trevor Jarvis
‘Catch 22’ in Catalonia
PHOTO: CHRISTOPHE BOZEC
over the sea (a trick I learned with the
Auster) and we set course for Deauville.
A few minutes here to relax after an
extremely hectic build-up to the trip, take
stock and have a look around−I noticed
the newly applied red race number 22
contrasting nicely against the yellow wing.
With France now in sight, for me the part
of the trip which could easily have been a
stopper was almost behind us and
Catch-22, which was Zulu Hotel’s new
race name, delicately felt her way onto
French tarmac for the first time.
From Deauville I had planned to do one
more sector to Cholet LFOU before sunset;
however, Catch-22 thought differently and
no matter how much I swung the prop she
did not want to hot-start. Eventually the
setting sun just above the starboard wing.
A quick calculation indicated that it would
be dark at Cholet so I diverted to Le Mans
LFRM and spent the night there, setting off
again on Sunday morning for Angoulême
LFBU, about 20Nm east of Cognac, for yet
another refuel. The most common reason
for delay through France was waiting for
someone to exchange the use of their Total
fuel card for cash, and with this
accomplished at Angoulême we were on
O-200 relented and settled down to her
usual rasping burble from the short-stub
exhausts and after this twenty-minute
unforeseen delay we set off south with the
56 | Pilot August 2014 www.pilotweb.aero
Abov e: not quite a Le Mans-style pit stop — waiting to exchange cash for the use of a Total fuel card
Right: crossing the snow-capped Pyrénées from France to Spain, the open plains of Catalonia still ahead of us
We set off south with the setting sun just above the starboard wing...
PHOT
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PHOT
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www.pilotweb.aero Pilot August 2014 | 57
Flying Adventure | Racing in Spain
our way to the next fuel stop at Arcachon
LFCH, about 20Nm southwest of
Bordeaux. From here, it was my intention
to fly along the coast towards San
Sebastian in Spain before setting course
inland for Pamplona LEPP, nestling
amongst 5,000ft mountains. The flight
plan was filed to reflect this but passing
abeam Biarritz I was told the weather on
the Spanish side of the Pyrénées was
worsening and although Pamplona was
still VFR at this moment, San Sebastian
was not. A decision had to be made
quickly and had to be the correct one as
fuel was going to be tight. The choices
were to continue to Pamplona amongst the
mountains without an in-range diversion
and worsening weather, or return to
France and divert to Biarritz LFBZ. Either
way the weather was not good but at least
Biarritz was not surrounded by mountains
so that was quite an easy decision.
Catch-22 was going to have to spend the
night outside on the apron at Biarritz as
there is no hangarage. I secured her as
best I could using sand-filled tie-down
bags and ropes provided by the handling
agent, before walking over to the airport
hotel with the few clothes and wash bag I
had stowed in the locker behind my head.
By early afternoon the weather cleared as
forecast to blue skies and light winds so we
set off, eventually climbing to 8,500ft,
serenely winding our way amongst the
snow-capped mountains, leaning out the
mixture to save precious fuel on this critical
sector. Clear of the mountains, the open
plains rolled out in front of us and thoughts
of Lleida and a cold beer for the first time
overrode thoughts of forced landings and
having to use my McMurdo PLB.
Unsure of exactly how much fuel I had
approaching Lleida, I elected to join high
in the overhead instead of my usual run
and break, only to discover later that I had
ten litres remaining, which is more than a
quarter of a tank for the Titch and much
more than I had anticipated. I was the first
racer to fly in. A few hours later Des Hart
The following morning I peered nervously
through the hotel room curtains, but the
view didn’t fill me with joy. It was still
raining with a 400ft cloudbase and the
TAFs suggested this would not clear until
early afternoon. This enforced delay gave
me the opportunity to email Pamplona to
inform them of my intention to try to get
there later and pick up fuel before finally
departing for Lleida. Their reply was not
one that I had expected and was very
unwelcome: fuel was not available to me
without a carnet between San Sebastian
and Lleida and cash would not be
acceptable. I couldn’t risk getting stuck in
Pamplona and decided that the forecast
tailwinds were such that if I flew a direct
track over the Pyrénées I could make it to
Lleida without stopping.
Above: Trevor washes off the many bugs encountered at race height, hoping the rain in Spain isn’t going to fall on his plane
Below: Catch 22 with some of the other F1 racers on the Lleida flight line awaiting the next practice session
PHOT
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ANE
JARV
IS
PHOT
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RVIS
although some of their aircraft were
capable of aerobatics, they were restricted
from doing so by regulation. Again,
working as a team to get the show in the
air, all three nations resolved the issue by
flying in a CAP 10 from France, piloted by
the APAF instructor Jean-Lin Balland.
Although it’s not a bad thing to practise
recovering from being turned upside-down
by the wake of another racer, FARA’s
approach differed in that their training
required you to follow a larger aircraft at
racing speeds at an altitude of 2-3,000ft
whilst it was turning and producing a
turbulent wake. Both exercises had
something to offer but having experienced
the wake upset forces at altitude, it better
prepares you not to get rolled into the
inverted at a height and low nose attitude
which would probably be impossible to
recover from. When it came to my
practice, I tried to fathom out the CAP 10
with Cassutt G-BOMB arrived and a couple
of hours after that we were joined by the
French contingent, who had been delayed
by weather on the eastern side of France.
The three American aircraft had been
shipped over in a container.
The week before race weekend at Lleida
was used to qualify for our International
Formula 1 race licence, presented to us on
successful completion of training by IF1
President Steve Senegal, over from the
States for the occasion. The British
regulatory body for such things is the
Formula Air Racing Association (FARA), a
full member association of the Royal Aero
Club. Our man-on-the-spot for the
occasion was Martin Luton, teamed-up
with ex-F1 air racer Steve Alexander and
for all matters technical and scrutineering
we were fortunate to have Bob Winsper
on our side. The French pilots were
represented by Dominique Milcendeau,
President of their Association Des Pilotes
D’Avions De Formules (APAF).
One of the aims of this showcase race
was for the three international bodies to
thrash out the eligibility and racing rules
ready for the full Air Race F1 race series
next year. A lot of hard work, negotiating
and compromising by the three nations’
representatives eventually produced a
working set of rules for the Lleida races
and will be a firm foundation upon which
to produce regulations for future
international races in this series.
One of the regulatory hurdles for the
Titch was that she is not cleared for
aerobatics and it is an IF1 requirement for
the race pilot to demonstrate rolls to the
right and left, followed by a roll to the
inverted one way and a recovery to
straight and level in the opposite direction,
with minimum height loss. The French
pilots were also faced with this problem:
Flying Adventure | Strap2 xxx
58 | Pilot August 2014 www.pilotweb.aero
Above: Trevor’s freshly-issued racing licence and the medal presented to all finalists
Left: Trevor gets a last-minute briefing from crew chief Kevin Broughall
Below: tension mounts as the field prepares on the apron for the Silver race
PHOTO: FERNANDO YUBEROPH
OTO:
FER
NAND
O YU
BERO
him and after three laps was in a position
to ease out to the right and overtake him.
Flying at 160mph, wing-tip to wing-tip, ten
metres above the ground concentrates the
mind and all this whilst also being
overtaken by the faster racers creating a
lot of turbulence in their wake. We
managed to hold our places to the
chequered flag, providing some excitement
at the back of the pack for the estimated
10,000 spectators.
The Silver race was won by No. 11, Des
Hart in his Cassutt, so he moved up to
Gold for the final race. This was won by
No. 6, Frenchman
Christian Guilie in
his self-designed,
self-built and
self-raced Arletty II at
a lap average of
238mph, easily
beating his three America-based Reno-
racing rivals. The three podium finishers
of each race, as is traditional, wasted a lot
of bubbly on the rostrum where we were
all presented with Lleida 2014 Race
pilot medals.
It was a privilege to be allowed to race
the Titch with the other ten pilots.
Everyone got on fantastically well with
each other and the great camaraderie and
professionalism will ensure that this race
with all its parachute straps, seat straps
and finally safety straps. Eventually, under
the watchful eye of Jean-Lin, I pedalled
the rudders sufficiently fast enough to get
airborne at a still undetermined airspeed. I
quickly completed all the rolling
manoeuvres required of me before
Jean-Lin took control, dropping down to
the race course so he could do a few laps
and check it out. He gave me control again
after pulling off the course, closing the
throttle and zooming up towards the
circuit pattern. I held the stick steady and
looked at Jean-Lin, and summoning up my
best Franglais asked
him if he would like
“zee circuit with
poweur or zee
Practice Forced
Landing wizout zee
poweur”. “Wizout,
of course,” came the reply, having already
lost a few hundred feet and a lot of energy.
We survived the PFL with a generous
trickle of power and I believe that pilots
subsequently had a briefing before doing
battle with the CAP 10.
Franglais became the common language,
mostly in the hotel bar of course, where
the Brits would use it conversing with the
French, the Americans with the Brits and
the English with the Scottish. Surprisingly,
we all seemed to understand each
other perfectly.
All the aircraft also had to pass
scrutineering before being allowed to take
part in practice races and, despite her trip
down, Catch-22 was one of the few aircraft
that didn’t need working on before being
allowed to race.
Race day on 1 June soon came around
and the weather was beautiful; light winds
and blue skies with the odd fluffy white
cloud. Starting on the back of the grid in
the Silver race allowed me the privilege of
leading the pack out to the runway for the
start. We followed the race control truck
out to the grid like a string of waddling
ducklings, weaving from side to side,
striving for some forward vision. Once all
of the racers were in position, it was green
flag up, full power against the brakes and
wait for the green to drop.
We were off, with Catch-22 at the back
but not too far behind No. 55, Patrick
Gajan in his CP80. After a lap I was
catching him, after two laps I was with
Flying Adventure | Racing in Spain
www.pilotweb.aero Pilot August 2014 | 59
‘Catch 22’ was one of the few aircraft that didn’t need working on before being allowed to race
A true air race: Trevor’s Catch 22 holds a tight line round a pylon, forcing the faster racers to the outside to overtake
PHOTO: CHRISTPHE BOZEC
a quarter hours after first taxying out
of Lleida.
It was a wonderful ten-day adventure:
flying every day, covering more than
1,500nm, either at 10,000ft over
mountains, or at ten metres above the
ground during the race. I had found a
wonderful group of people to be associated
with and a wonderful little aeroplane in
which to do the trip, fifty years after John
Taylor first submitted her design. She was
never going to be a race winner in Lleida
but I still maintain that Catch-22 the Titch
was the sweetest natured and cutest little
aeroplane down there−and we didn’t
come last!
series continues and grows in future years,
rivalling Formula One at Reno. However,
all good things must come to an end and a
relatively early night meant that I was
ready to leave the hotel at 0730 the next
morning to fly Catch-22 back home.
The weather was forecast to be good
with a ridge of high pressure over the
Pyrénées, through France and into the UK.
I elected to take
advantage of westerly
tailwinds because of
the fuel problem in
Spain and fly northeast
direct to Perpignan LFMP to
refuel. Climbing to 10,000ft over and
between the mountains, the Titch seemed
perfectly happy and once again didn’t miss
a beat despite her race the previous day.
After Perpignan we had to stop four
more times for fuel on the way home,
calling in at Souillac LFSL, Loudun LFDL,
Deauville LFRG and Shoreham EGKA,
before arriving back at Hinton just as the
sun was beginning to set, twelve and
Flying Adventure | Racing in Spain
60 | Pilot August 2014 www.pilotweb.aero
Left : podium glory for the top three, while our man...
Above: ...seems to have got the babes
Below: 750 miles and more than twelve hours after starting out for home, Catch 22 nears Hinton
Inset: amongst the Pyrénées at 10,000 feet en route to Perpignan
PHOTO: JANE JARVISPHOTO: TREVOR JARVIS
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