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June 2008 Newsletter.
Next meeting: Saturday, June 7,
2008, at 10:00am.
Location: Clubhouse, Blair Field, Knutsford.
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President's Letter
Hello
Everyone:
I
cannot believe that it is June already!! Where do
the months go. I have my Beaver ultralight in the
air again. Camille and I have been up several
times when the weather has agreed!! I was in
Vancouver for a few days this past week and
contacted Tomo Nishimura at King George Aviation
and took some instruction from him to help me
with landing my Beaver. I haven't done much
flying since getting my license in 2001 and the
dual time with Tomo was very benifitial. We flew
in the Rans S-12 Airaile. A 2 seat side by side
craft with a 912 Rotax engine. It was very
impressive to fly. A very solid aircraft. (I am
not flying in the picture, borrowed from
website.)
We
practiced stalls, power loss on take-offs and
circuits and landings. It was a great
session and I would definitely recommend Tomo as
an instructor to anyone looking for a brush up in
your skills. It is a beautiful area to fly in and
I am sure that we came close to getting the U.S.
border patrols excited as we were flying just
west of the Peace Arch Border crossing!
There
has been a lot of flying activity going on at the
Knutsford strip lately. With Bill Huxley flying
his Challenger regularly and Camille with his
single seat Beaver air borne again there is
regular activity at the strip. Hopefully I will
be joining them soon to take the cofffee trips to
Quilchena!! All we need now is more agreeable
weather.
Now
that we are starting the weekend meetings again
for the summer, that should increase the flying
activities on the weekends! Saturday mornings at
10:00 A.M. at the clubhouse, drive or fly-in the
coffee will be on.
Bye for now, safe landings, Dick Suttie.
NEWS FLASH,
May 31, 2008.
The Beaver Rx 550
has soloed with Dick Suttie behind the
controls!!!
In co-ordination with the next months calendar
picture!!!
All went well with 4 successful take-offs and
landings!
The plane is working well with a fuel burn of
close to 10 liters per hour.
Now to practice, practice, practice.
Editor's
Notes
On Saturday May 31, in the
morning I flew in the back seat of Dick's Beaver,
as back-up pilot while Dick was practising
take-off and landing. He did four on his own,
while I did not have to touch the controls at
all.
Then in the evening he went
solo for three more! Some of them in light
crosswind and some turbulence, and he handled
them very well.
Here he is rolling for his
first solo take-off:
Now airborne from Gerald's
strip:
First lanfing on Knutsford
strip:
Cruising over the hills:
The
Golden Rule.
We
all know what it is, but sometimes we might
forget to apply it.
If
I was enjoying a quiet Saturday evening in the
countryside sipping a glass of wine by the pool
or in the hot tub, and some buzzing ultralight
came overhead, I might be mildly annoyed. And if
it came over again and again, I could become VERY
annoyed.
I
don't have a pool or a hot tub, I am a fellow who
enjoys very much flying my ultralight, especially
in the calm evening air. I should not forget to
be a good neighbour and be considerate to my
fellowmen bound to the ground.
I
got a reminder when a gentleman came over to the
strip to express his displeasure with our flying
over his property too many times while following
Dick on his solo flights.
Bill
Huxley was joking to me: "It is very
difficult for me to understand why everyone
doesn't love us daring aviators and our wonderful
machines!" He added :
"Regardless of what we all think is
legal - we probably want to have the best
relationship possible with our neighbours around
the field.
If all our members and visitors understood how
sensitive some of the residents were and did our
best to avoid the sources of their irritation
with us, we could then do everything possible to
avoid pissing them off. As our area gets
more populated and if there is a pissing match -
we will loose! I'd support a
simple objective for all members and
visitors - "fly safe and be
sensitive to local residents privacy" .
I totally agree; other than
the Golden Rule, there are regulations governing
our sport, and I will bring a copy to the next
meeting, so we can discuss it.
I, for one, will have to
quit flying circles over Knutsford Knoll while
catching updrafts at 22mph....
Editor.
More
Action at Knutsford Strip.
On
Thursday May 29, Dan Berwin came from Cache
Creek. Here he is with his blue/white Challenger
in the background. My Beaver on the right, and
Larry's Kitfox on take-off. Moments later Larry
experienced an engine failure and came back for a
safe landing.
Bill
Huxley's Challenger on take-off.
Rural
Airports: Just noise machines!
By Barry Meek
The crowd at the coffee shop consisted of
the regulars on the island. Mostly men,
everyone dressed in rain gear. Out here on
the west coast, winter means rain. We
rarely get snow for any duration, and the winds
blow mild temperatures in off the Pacific. This
is not good flying weather! In fact
it’s not good for much at all. On the
other hand, I have to admit the gray sky, the
wind and the rain are better than having a ton of
snow and sub zero temperatures.
The relatively mild winters are the reason so
many of our countrymen (and women) move here to
retire. Rain wear is cheaper than winter
clothes. It doesn’t cost that much to
heat a house. And there are fewer heart
attacks while shoveling snow than in any other
place in the country.
Island life is slower and quieter than in most
areas on the mainland. That’s another
reason that a large portion of our population
over here consists of seniors, retired people.
They like it quiet. So it was no surprise
at the coffee shop that day when I was almost
thrown out for suggesting we need an airport on
our little piece of rock in the ocean.
Tourism is a fairly large chunk of the economy on
this island. A couple of dozen Inns,
Bed & Breakfast’s and motels/lodges
offer accommodations. There’s a very
active retreat centre running seminars and study
sessions weekly. Artists and crafters have
set up studios in their homes to sell and display
their creations. Restaurants and theatres
are also very active here. They all rely on
mainlanders, who in turn must rely on the ferry
service to get here. That means delays,
waits, lineups, inconvenience and constantly
increasing costs. There would be more
people who would come if they could fly over!
“Why wouldn’t you support an airport
here?” I put the question to one of
the most vocal opponents to the idea. She
responded, “the noise”. Just then
a Harley Davidson motorcycle with the standard
issue straight pipes went roaring past. Nobody
seemed to notice that noise.
Knowing full well I was wasting my breath I
explained to her that we were not talking about
another Vancouver International, or some training
airport. What I had in mind was a turf or
gravel strip, maybe 2,500 feet long and for the
use of the small number of pilots who could then
bypass the BC Ferries nightmares and commute to
and from wherever they go. The traffic
volume at this airport would be no more than one
or two flights in and out daily, if that. There
are not many pilots who live here.
The RC model airplane pilots have their own
little strip. Hardly anyone complains about
it which doesn’t make sense because those
planes buzz around all day when they’re out
there flying. Real airplanes, although
admittedly noisier, are gone quickly. They
roll down the strip, lift off and away they go.
The noise is only for about 30 seconds. And
we all know that an inbound aircraft can’t
be heard at all in most cases.
I pressed the woman about other noise, tolerated
by islanders. Motorcycles are the plague of
every city, not just out little corner of the
world. Emergency generators are another
noise source that drones on and on through our
frequent power outages. Many people have
the units that start up automatically the instant
the power goes off. That means sometimes at
three or four in the morning. They’re
loud enough to disturb entire neighborhoods.
Complaints? Well, some. But
generators are an accepted appliance here. Barking
dogs and loud music occasionally rock the island.
Another fact of life here is loud or no mufflers
on a large percentage of the local vehicles.
All these noise sources I neatly packaged and put
on the table in front of this woman as my
argument for an airport. Still she was
having none of it. There is no way she
would support it. About that time, it
became clear I’d need to play the ace I had
up my sleeve.
“Are you aware there already is an airport
on the island?” I asked.
“No way. I’d have heard it!”
I went on to explain that one of the farmers had
quietly built a strip, complete with windsock and
a small hangar for his airplane on his land
several years earlier.
No one at our table in that coffee shop had even
heard about it, let alone heard any air traffic
around it. There really wasn’t much
traffic, just this one aircraft coming and going
perhaps on a weekly basis. The close
neighbors knew about it, but none had any
objection. Unfortunately for the pilots who
would like to see a facility here, the farmer
will have no part of anyone else using his field.
So the bad news would be we can’t use this
landing strip. The good news is that nobody
seems to be aware of it which would be further
good news when we attempt to have a pubic airport
considered. How can people argue against
the noise when we already have a strip that they
haven’t heard!?
This is a scenario that is similar in dozens, if
not hundreds of other locations across the
country. What people don’t understand,
they reject outright. Given a chance to see
the other side of an argument, they might be more
receptive. They all say they don’t
want noise. But they don’t do anything
about the motorcycles, the vehicles with no
mufflers, the barking dogs and loud stereos.
The perception that aircraft are not only unsafe,
but are noisy too, is a hard one to change in
peoples’ minds. Someone once said,
”My mind is made up. Don’t
confuse me with facts.” Seems
appropriate when you talk airplanes with
non-pilots.
By Barry Meek
bcflyer@propilots.net
New
in the Buy&Sell
New ads! A few aircrafts
have been sold too! And some price changes! Have
a look at http://www.ocis.net/tvsac/buyandsell.html
We
welcome your feedback. Do you have any
contributions for the newsletter? Photo would be
great! So would flying stories, project updates
or tall tales... Contact me: Newsletter Editor:
Camille Villeneuve 1-250-374-4181 villeneuve@shaw.ca
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