[MichaelP]

Faced with the high cost of a potential ecg stress test to maintain a rarely used CRI rating, I have decided to instead try to renew my Class 1 medical and Canadian Class 2 instructor rating.
The instructor rating is important for my credibility.

Hopefully I will do some tailwheel and seaplane flying while I’m there... They are already complaining that my time in BC is too short!

I have a deposit against the Aircoupe, I am really sad it is being sold, it was an effort by me to provide an aviation resource here...

I will update this topic when I am there.
If any Flyer member happens to want to go flying in the Vancouver area, you will be welcome.

[MichaelP]

I've got myself settled in to the apartment downtown, done some socialising and got my first flight in.

Up early this morning to get through the tunnel and down to Boundary Bay. The traffic going the other way was backed up by three kilometres northbound to Vancouver.

This morning's flying in the Tomahawk is to prepare David for his Class 1 Instructor rating. I do this sort of thing!

On the 15th Alice drove me to Abbotsford to pick up her Cessna 172 (180hp CSU).
We stopped at Adrian's restaurant at Langley Airport on the way and met up with my sister... That's by the by.
All kinds of junk can be found at Abbotsford including an Air Atlantique Lockheed Electra and this Q400.

The Cessna had sat for a long time.
This aeroplane represents typical bad business, it was leased to a flying school and rarely flown... A lot of debts built up to the cost of the owner.
There were hornets in both wing root vents.

I had the pleasure of the fifteen minute flight back to Boundary Bay where we gave the aeroplane the full spa treatment with a full wash.

[MichaelP]

On Tuesday Daryl and I took the Tomahawk to Victoria to have lunch with a friend there.
This is an easy flight at 2,500 feet across the water to East Point at the end of Saturna Island and then to join via Stuart Island.

Lunch was at the nearby cafe - pub that serves a lot of British comfort food.

Boundary Bay Airport is very busy with a lot of foreign students.
We joined on the opposite downwind and waited for a gap for ATC to let us in.
Flaps selected, taking our time downwind.

On Wednesday flying was restricted at Squamish due to local forest fires.
It was good to visit Glacier Air where as usual I made the tea, and supplied the muffins and healthy oatmeal cookies.
Colette took me to a hospice/retirement home to visit an old friend Franz who was one of the best instructors in this area.
He suffered blood clots after a knee operation and a prostate operation.
It's unfortunate... I do not trust the hospitals here, too many horror stories. We should be thankful for the NHS who in my opinion do a much better job.

Yesterday, Thursday, I went for my Class 1 medical to validate my CPL here, and in preparation for my Class 2 Instructor Rating renewal.
I am very fit.
I still worry about the cost of the stress test in England... It will be a huge expense for me.

After the medical I went for a flight with Rory in his Cardinal up to Sechelt for a touch and go.

We took the south shore transit at 2,500 feet. You can do this lower at 1,600 feet for sight seeing.

From/to Boundary Bay you can transit along the Fraser River past New Westminster below 1,200 feet.
In my opinion this is no longer legal as there has been a lot of tall buildings developed in New West and these mean that you are less than 1,000 feet above them and unable to glide clear.
The Harbour Tower controller was upset that aeroplanes were flying over New Westminster, Metrotown, and Burnaby where the rising terrain combined with tall buildings as well as the general congestion means that aircraft are within a few hundred feet of the ground and buildings rather than the regulation 1,000 feet minimum.

Road traffic here is awful simply awful, it's your worst day on the M25 every day.
I hate it with a passion, why I can not stand to live here.
Give me Bangkok any day, not this every day.

[MichaelP]

Since I passed my Class 1 medical my Commercial Pilot's Licence is once again valid, and as such with hours logged in the Cessna 206 I was able to do Colette's Pilot Competency Check in her aeroplane as part of her company's training requirement.
This included a ground review as well as a flight review.

Flying microlight and ultralight aeroplanes is best in the morning.
The Savanna VG had a new propeller fitted, a sophisticated Scimitar design...
The previous propeller was broken when a student pilot on a cross country taxied a Cessna into it.
This flight would demonstrate why it is very very important to match a propeller to an airframe.

Up in the air the aeroplane performed well, and its controls were light, sensitive and effective, until I decided to do a power off - clean stall (0 flaperon).
At 70 mph IAS there was sudden buffet, and as I tried to raise the nose further by moving the stick back the buffet got worse and the nose dropped further.
This was not a stall, rather severe disruption of the airflow over the tailplane and elevators causing control reversal.
Application of power cured it immediately.
So power on I raised the nose to achieve 60 mph IAS flap limit speed and lowered twenty degrees of flap, and we returned to the airfield in this configuration.
I explain the problem like this:

This was my email to the propeller supplier:

Simple answer is the attached vector diagram.

This is why we feather the propeller (zero pitch) when an engine fails on a multi engine aeroplane.
We feather the propeller to glide in a motor glider for the same reason.

At 60mph IAS there was no problem in the Savanna VG.
As the airspeed reduces so does the propeller's negative angle of attack.

Stationary on the ground at idle the propeller has a positive angle of attack and so produces some thrust.

At 70 mph IAS the negative angle of attack at idle produced airflow that rendered the elevators ineffective and easing the stick back resulted in a further nose down pitch change.

3,000 engine RPM cured this problem.
The increased rotational speed of the propeller changed the angle of attack of the blades to one that allowed better airflow over the tailplane and elevators.

Looking at it "zero pitch" is not the correct term, may be confusing, but most will know what I mean.

Many pilots still believe that a windmilling propeller is less drag than a stopped propeller in the glide... Maybe, but it depends upon blade speed vs aeroplane airspeed. If there's an increase in RPM above normal idle then the propeller is taking energy from the air flow = drag.

Got to work on landing straight, and so I flew with the Savanna's owner in the Citabria in which he is also checking out.

[MichaelP]

I had two tasks to complete on this Canadian trip.
First was to renew my Class 1 medical, this was important to maintain my Thai validation as well.
The second was to renew my Class 2 Flight Instructor Rating, this to retain credibility in what I do sometimes in foreign parts.
England has been a great frustration in my flying life. I love it in England, but it has not worked out very well for flying.
My poor pension does not help, and there's no prospect of 'Pension Credit'.
I can't complain too much, I have done test flights in a few aeroplanes, kept my hand in, and I have the respect of my friends.
The Aircoupe episode has severely dented my finances, and my opinion of the level of enthusiasm in the flying community.
It's a very sad state of affairs, and I think about it when I contemplate the queue for takeoff at Boundary Bay.
Very busy flying scene here in the Lower Mainland (BC).

Alice and I flew to Courtenay Air Park for a very expensive day out.
I flew with Bob who has retired from Transport Canada but still does Instructor Rating renewals.
The use of the Tomahawk was deliberate as Bob used to fly these in his instructing youth.
I do this sort of thing... Go out of my way to do something pleasurable for my fellow aviators.
In any case I had to teach on the ground, and then in the air, and this was successful. So I now have my Class 2 Instructor Rating.


Picture taken with my Galaxy phone.


I've been testing a Canon EOS 450D camera I was given... I'm not impressed, the images seem washed out, perhaps the sensor is kaput?
I used a Canon G1X a lot for web pictures, but this is in for cleaning and repair.
I have a Fuji X-T3 which produces excellent images, but it's so nice I don't want to use it as a knock about camera... Should use it more I know.
I think the 450D is not worth the baggage weight when I return to England.

There's another project in the offing here in Canada which might require me to stay a bit longer.
I am expected to go to RIAT so there's a limit, and I rather want to go to the steam show in Guildford...

[MichaelP]

I have written up my report.
I will edit it to increase the text size...

See http://www.mpaviation.com/can251.html

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