April
2009 Newsletter.
Next meeting: Thursday, April 9,
2009, at 7:30pm.
Location: Clubhouse, Blair Field, Knutsford.
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Editor's
Notes
Help!
Help!
I
will need some help with the setup of a webcam to
monitor the conditions at the Knutsford strip! I
downloaded software from ConquerCam, but I am
confused when it comes to the configuration! The
idea is to capture a picture and upload it to the
server where everyone can access it. Or it could
be left to our computer and everyone would be
given a link to see it.
I
already have a surveillance camera with telephoto
lens and RCA connection, but it will require a
video input card; I could use it, or a regular
1.3 Megapixel webcam fitted with a different lens
that would use the USB input port.
Any
assistance will be greatly appreciated!
Hangar
Available!
The
#3 hangar at Knutsford is available. It is large
enought to house a Cub or Tri-Pacer. There is
some cleanup to do, the door need to be fixed.
Call Bill Davidson at 250-573-2357 or pilotbill@telus.net
We
finally got some grass seeds for the Knutsford
Airstrip! An experimental mix!
Greg
Peterson brought us a bag on Friday, and Saturday
I took it to the strip. Larry L'Heureux was
driving Dick Suttie's tractor and dragging the
chain harrow on the strip. Bill Huxley was
spreading the seeds with the hand-held
broadcaster, Gerald Gibbons was driving the quad
to pick up Bill and bring him back for a refill.
George and I were watching.., Well, .... I mean
supervising! We got about one third covered on
the North end. We did not have a packer, I drove
over the end of the strip a dozen times... It was
very dusty already, so we need some good rain or
snow! We don't know how the mix will do, that's
why we call it "experimental"! If it
starts to grow it will have to keep on growing
without artificial irrigation. If it is
successful, we will eventually cover the whole
strip.
We
will look into acquiring a 6 foot piece of 36
inch pipe so Gerald can build a roller to pull
behind the tractor.
I
must say that the strip is in better shape and
smoother than last Summer, after Gerald scraped
it with his grader blade and Larry dragged the
harrow many times last Fall.
SPOT
According
to the ad: "SPOT is
a hand-held satellite communication and safety
device that transmits your GPS location to
friends, family, co-workers or emergency
responders, all beyond cell phone range. SPOT
does more than just call for help. SPOT
allows you to check with loved ones, track your
progress, and access non-emergency
assistance."
For
more info, check this: http://www.findmespot.ca/en/index.php?cid=1530
Dick
Suttie came up with the idea: Let's buy a SPOT
for the Club. We can leave it at the Clubhouse,
and anyone leaving on a trip alone could borrow
it. They are now on sale at London Drugs for
$120. and the annual user's fee is around $150.
Let's talk about it at the next meeting!
Red
snow, anyone?
Bill
Huxley told us that while driving past Shumway
Lake around March 18, he noticed some patches of
bright red snow on the ice. I had heard about
such a phenomenon befores, so I was quite
intrigued by the possibility of seeing it myself!
Because of the miserable weather I was unable to
fly until March 21, when I finally went for a
look. There was still some red tinge left on the
ice, but it was quite faint. It was more apparent
in the open water near the shore.
On
March 27 I drove there with my grandaughter and
went down to the shore to collect some water,
that looked like pink lemonade but smelled like
very bad swamp water!
A
search on "red snow" on Google revealed
that it is a phenomenon that was quite mysterious
for centuries, but is now understood to be caused
by algaes that migrate to the surface of the snow
when it starts to melt in the Spring. It is quite
common in alpine areas like the Sierra Nevada in
California. It has also been known to turn
Greenland glaciers bright red. I am not sure if
it is the case here. I would love to have the
water analyzed! Makes for a good story anyway!
While
at Shumway, we also noticed some 3 to 4 inch fish
that seemed to like beaching themselves on the
gravel. Tony calls them "Bullfish" but
I was unable to find any detail on Google. Any
idea, anyone?
USE
ONE HOLE IN GAS TANK FOR 2 OPTIONS.
Have you ever needed another
hole in your gas tank for a supply line or vent
line?? Here is a simple way to achieve that goal.
I am installing this so my suction line for my
primer is not teed into my main fuel line. The
following picture is of the original vent elbow.
The parts that are labelled
in the picture are as follows. I am working with
the 1/4 " NPT ( national pipe thread ) into
the tank that houses the vent line. I remove the
vent elbow and install the brass fittings
assembled as follows.
*A*- 1/4" NPT to
3/16" compression fitting.
*B*- !/4" NPT Tee (street) A 1/4"
nipple can be used with a 1/4" tee instead
of a street tee.
*C*- !/4" NPT to barb fitting to match vent
hose sizing.
On LEFT - 3/16" tubing (brake line purchased
from auto parts supplier)
Steps to make up fittings:
Drill out B or nipple ( if not using street tee )
to make more room for vent application. The vent
from tank will come up around the tube and exit
out through *C*. Drill out several sizes larger
than the original hole. I also drilled C to allow
max. vent flow.
Cut the tube long enough to reach down into tank
as far as necessary. (I am running the tube down
to within 6 inches of bottom as I am using this
for a primer suction.)
Drill out the inside of *A* so tubing will pass
through fitting.
Install tube at height needed and tighten
compression nut. This is now sealed from port
*C*.
Install fitting into tank and install hoses.
Special note: Not a good
idea if you have a plane that is certified for
aerobatics!!!!!
Voices
in the Sky
By
Barry Meek
From
ninety five hundred feet, the view was a spectrum
of two colors. The solid white cloud below
topped by a dome of blue sky. The warm sun
beating through the windshield was comforting, a
sensation not experienced in several weeks.
The weather on the ground all that time had been
overcast, cold and wet, but up there in another
world, a pilot could forget winter. A few
mountain tops punched up through the cloud cover
but were far enough away that progress seemed
slow in such an otherwise empty sky. My
flight over the Rocky Mountains would seem longer
than two hours. In the welcome sunshine, it
was fine with me.
On departure, the airport was in the clear, the
cloud cover stationary within ten miles to the
south. I was flying VFR over the top.
There is a preferred VFR route marked on the map,
which follows a highway through some mountain
passes. The highest point on that road is
only about 3,500 feet ASL, quite possibly do-able
flying under the cloud. However, with the
waypoints established in the GPS, I could stay
close to the route but remain above the cloud
cover enjoying the sunshine and zero wind
conditions.
Settled in nicely at cruise
altitude, listening to the familiar drone of the
engine, it was easy to relax in the smooth air.
After flying in the same airplane for about 25 to
50 hours, a pilot becomes familiar with the
sound, feel, vibrations and other inputs of that
particular machine. He knows what’s
normal and what’s not. Flying in a
remote area, there’s not much distraction in
terms of airspace and other traffic. In
fact it’s difficult to contact an FSS
sometimes, and even when you can, there is no
reliable weather information. There are
simply too few reporting stations in the
vicinity. It’s easy to get the feeling
you’re all alone in the world.
Occasionally a voice comes on the radio, a call
to a flight service station with a request for
weather or to file a position report. “Pacific
Radio, it’s Mooney Charlie, Alpha, Bravo,
Charlie, request latest Vancouver weather”.
That guy must be three hundred miles away, I
thought. There was no way I could hear the
response from the specialist, but the Mooney read
back the conditions. It was overcast and
raining there. So, what’s new?
I wouldn’t be flying to Vancouver that day.
Where I was going was forecast to be CAVOK.
I would check in another 60 minutes for an update
there.
The voices in the sky were my only company, and
in the smooth, warm air I speculated about who
and what kind of pilots were on the radios making
those calls. The Mooney pilot was probably
a private pilot flying IFR on a business trip.
I’ve never heard of a Mooney in an air taxi
fleet. Another call to the FSS came from a
172. The pilot explained she was on a
flight from Abbotsford to Williams Lake,
Vanderhoof and return. My mind sought
memories of my first cross-country flight while
earning my private license. That one was a
whole lot shorter than this girl had to fly.
Have they raised the bar for young pilots so
much? One instance that stood out on my
trip back then was descending into a thin fog
layer above the runway. When the ground
disappeared, it scared the pants off me. My
first mandatory overshoot, and a lesson learned.
A fleet of three U.S. registered Cessnas
requested weather updates through the Rocky
Mountain Trench enroute to Alaska. Their
brief chatter back and forth hinted of a
well-planned holiday. They knew where they
were headed. Another aircraft was searching
for a hole through the clouds attempting to land
in Revelstoke. That is high mountain
country. He was getting assistance from
someone on the ground. I silently wished
him good luck.
The miles and time slipped by. My vistas
remained unchanged …. blue and white. As
I clicked off the GPS waypoints, the airplane
remained roughly overhead the highway. There
was some comfort in that. Should the engine
quit, I would not simply settle into the cloud
cover and wait for the end. Knowing the
valley and road were underneath, at least there
was a chance to break out before flying straight
into the side of a mountain. It’s
lonely enough up there in such an empty world
without the thought of dying alone. The
radio chatter, although meaningless, is
reassurance we’re never totally alone.
Who cares what the weather is 300 miles away?
Who cares that three American crews are going to Alaska?
There’s nothing relevant except the
knowledge that another unseen human being is out
there.
Sometimes
on a longer flight in some remote area, I’d
turn the radio off. While some pilots are
quite comfortable flying NORDO, it wouldn’t
be long before that kind of silence had me
wondering if I were missing something, an
aircraft close by or a pirep for the route ahead,
perhaps a call for help. In fact I have
actually flown into controlled airspace with the
radio off, having become accustomed to the
silence of a leisurely trip. It’s easy
to do with the older radios where there is no
digital electronic display. The numbers are
stamped right on the dial, and when they’re
centered at the top, that was the frequency you
were transmitting on. But, there was
nothing to indicate the radio was on. It
was easy to interpret the silence as a controller
taking a nap. It is more a matter of good
luck than good airmanship that I’ve never
had anything more than a ‘little talk’
with the tower following something like that.
No doubt the radio is a big intimidating factor
for the student pilot, but it doesn’t take
long to become your best friend. The voices
in the sky are always there, anonymous, unseen,
sometimes interesting, informative and sometimes
annoying. A fact of life for flyers
everywhere.
Barry Meek bcflyer@propilots.net
New
in the Buy&Sell
Airplane Hangar $10,000.
Campbell
Hill Airport, Cache Creek. Partially completed
42' X 50' hangar on leased land at the airport.
large lot, plenty of additional space to build
workshop addition or for outside storage.
Engineering has been approvedand just requires
finishing and final inspection. Building is
almost ready for metal roof and walls (or
covering of your choice). $10,000. firm. Jamie
250-453-2266 or 453-2388. drjameskendall@gmail.com
(09/03/30)
McCauley Metal prop
71"
diam. 57 pitch for sale or trade for a prop
that would fit my Fly Baby's A65 engine. Call
Jamie 250-453-2266 or 453-2388. drjameskendall@gmail.com
(09/03/30)
GSC 3-blade propeller.
Came off HKS on a Chinook.
69" diam. $250. OBO. Also spare hub $100. skyworksmedia@shaw.ca
(09/03/29)
1951 Cessna 170A $39,000.
180 gears, 800 X 6 tires,
ARC radio, VOR, Narco mode C, 4-place Intercom,
3800TTSN, 1100ET, new prop 2004, hangared. Green
on yellow, 9/10. Call 604-905-9674 or
604-938-9698 Fax 604-938-9684. Brian Rode.
(09/03/25)
Chinook WT11 $4,500.
Chinook WT11 for sale,
Why? because my fat butt is to heavy to fly it.
It's a great little airplane with a 337, less
than 30 hrs since overhaul, strengthened landing
gear, dual aileron horn conversion, factory main
tube strength mod. original wing and tail in good
condition. Asking $4,500. cdn. E-mail me
at gdtan@shaw.ca or call Geoff Tanner
1 403
328 4718 in Lethbridge Alberta.
(09/03/24)
Challenger II
1997 •
$11,500
Challenger
II, Long Wing, 503 Rotax with electric start,
dual ignition, dual carb's, wide body, fiberglass
nose cone, skis, Flaperons, dual controls, VFR
instruments, streamlined strut covers, 10 gallon
tank. Recoved in '05 Endura Yellow and Green
paint. Tinted side windows, oversized wheels
& tires, hydraulic brakes icom radio,
intercom and more. Located in Grande Prairie, AB,
780-568-3379 arnieromanuik@hotmail.com.
(09/03/18)
Beaver RX550 $10,500.
1989
BRX 550 approximately 100 hours on rebuilt 503
(with new crank)
DCSI,
electric start, auxillary strut fuel tanks,
steerable nose wheel, hy brakes, two helmets,
intercom and radio. Located in Medicine Hat,
Alberta, $10500 (403) 529-6387 Steve Haupt
(09/03/13)
We
welcome your feedback. Do you have any
contributions for the newsletter? Photos 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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