srfc.org.au

Dr Brett Molesworth,  aviation safety and human factors lecturer at the University of New South Wales is looking for pilots within the Sydney region to assist with research.

He is recruiting pilots for a study titled ‘Risk Management in General Aviation’ — the non-commercial sector of aviation -  those who fly for fun. The aim of this study is to examine various risk management strategies in aviation, as well as the effectiveness of various training methods in improving pilot risk management behaviour.

Daniel Kwon, an Honours student within the department is assisting Dr Molesworth. Pilots are asked to complete two one-hour sessions on the department’s computer flight simulator. The simulator has a 7.5 metre curved screen, with 180 degrees of scenery.

For assisting with the research,  a $40 bookshop gift voucher is given at the end of the second session. The voucher is redeemable at 90% of bookshops across Australia.

How many spots on a Cheetah?

If you can spare 2 hours, one hour each week for 2 weeks, have at least 20 hours of powered flight experience and are prepared to travel to UNSW Kensington, please contact Daniel Kwon – z3158068@zmail.unsw.edu.au

Phil passed all the conditions for his pilot certificate.

Joe Newham congratulates Phil

Here’s a song to celebrate:

When Phil was a little lad
He proved so brave and daring,
His father thought he’d ‘prentice him
To some career daring

To take and bind the promising boy
Apprentice to a pirate –

I did not catch the word aright,
Through being hard of hearing;
Mistaking my instructions,
Which within my brain did gyrate,
I took and bound this promising boy
Apprentice to a pilot.

A sad mistake it was to make
And doom him to a vile lot.
I bound him to a pilot – you –
Instead of to a pirate.

And that is how you find me now,
A member of your shy lot,

Apprentice to a pilot. (SLYT)

Other news:

A new 1000l tank has been purchased.

Tank

Peter Foster took his Saphire out for a wash.

Peter Foster's Saphire

Mark Dawson wrote to mention the RAAF air show,
Defence Force Air Show 2010, 18-19th September 2010, RAAF Base Williamtown

Mark is also planning to organise an outing to the Powerhouse Discovery Centre at Castle Hill probably October. They have a comprehensive aviation collection.

Ron Hicks

Darryl and Greg Deeley

Greg Deeley and Darryl about to take off

Landing

SkyDart

Steve Cohen?

SkyDart

Cloudy landscape

Yellow plane in circuit at 'The Oaks'....

you look like you’re having too much fun!

..let that be a warning. Too much fun is illegal.

Milan Kuzet had his first solo in the Foxbat. Although Milan has flown a number of planes before, after 17 years and a complete change in size and type, Milan was sent solo by CFI Greg Davies.

Jamie and Geoff struck a flat tire in the Lightwing (this is getting to be a habit!) on 18L with Milan solo behind. Milan nonchalantly did a go-around. They train ‘em properly at SRFC!’

Dave Venish completed the video of Tom Russell’s talk last week. Dave writes: “I’m very happy with the result. Trust you will be too.”

Geoff Raebel is completing another book. A few weeks back he sent me a photo of a Col Winton Brumby.

Brumby

The Winton family certainly have an interesting history. A new online magazine has a profile of Col Winton. They followed that story up with a profile of his son, Scott.

I asked Arthur Armour, our flying instructor at the Taree Wing, about various planes of that time:

“The machine I had was a clone built version of Col’s Jackaroo (the prototype of which was called the cricket).

“There should be pictures at the clubhouse of my silver Cricket in Air Force training colours.

“The history of my rebuilding of the clone is at my picasa site; http://picasaweb.google.com/Pylon500/TheSuperCricket#

“I wish I had taken a photo of Scott and one of his first Sapphire fuselages at his house in Granville when I first met him

“It was such a contrast to see this scruffy, long haired surfy in thongs and torn jeans, driving a rusty old EK station wagon, pull up outside a dilapidated old fibro house next to Granville Tech, with this beautiful fibreglass fuselage strapped to the roof, and then find out he was the designer!

“Garry Morgan did a bit of work with Col working on Grasshoppers (he had one for a while), he then worked with Ray Tolhurst building the ‘Stingray’ which was a Grasshopper with a cantilevered wing.

“He later helped Scott building Sapphires, and had a little to do with the Opal.”

Arthur has many other photos in his galleries, well worth a look.

Saturday, 26th June, Tom Russell visited The Oaks. Tom is one of WW2’s last surviving P40 Kittyhawk Pilots.

Tom was brought by glider, which did a pass of the field. Dave Rolfe then gave Tom a ride in his training Lightwing.

Tom gave a talk later that evening at the Camden RSL. The talk and visit was organised by Carl Holden, the Oaks Community Airport Manager. Carl is also the proprietor of Holden Dynamics. We hope to bring you a report and video of the talk.

Arrive in Style

Check out the sock

Silent wings

Carl welcoming Tom

Group Photo: including tug pilot and passenger

Lots of room for the tug

Off the ground by our club van

Club president Joe Newham was up in Taree last weekend. He writes and sends some photos.

“A very productive weekend in Taree. Arthur and I have fitted the nose leg and engine to 4422, the engine is ready for starting. We have also bleed the brakes and cleaned up some of the wiring.

“The port wing and aileron was sanded back and we had Tim Morgan come over on Sunday to spray paint all the components. A big thanks to Tim for his work on Sunday and also Heather and Arthur for all their work and help.

“I think 4422 should be flyable by the end of July.”

Tim Morgan is Gary Morgan’s son, helping him at Morgan Aeroworks.

Scramble – to a rare historical talk by one of Australia’s last surviving WWII fighter pilots and combat veterans.

FLT LT TOM RUSSELL, 3 Squadron RAAF

At the CAMDEN RSL CLUB,  SAT 26^TH JUNE 2010 6PM

Tom flew in North Africa against Rommell and Mussolini in P-40 Kittyhawks

Trained in Tiger Moths at Narromine and finished the war as an Instructor on P-51 Mustangs. Flew as wing man for his C.O. – WG CMDR Bobby Gibbes

This is a unique opportunity to meet one of the last remaining Pilots that fought to protect Australia during WW2 and keep our Country free. Hear his remarkable story. You are welcome to meet Tom and ask questions during his talk.

Tom is a fascinating speaker and has a lot of personal experiences and anecdotes to share. Hear stories of heroism, bravery and courage !

LIMITED PLACES – PLEASE BOOK ASAP

CONTACT: Carl Holden

(RAA Pilot Examiner & Manager, The Oaks Airport)

Ph: (02) 4657 2929 or Mobile: 04 2728 2728

Email: ch at TheOaksAirport.com

People/Students/Kids interested in becoming Pilots are also welcome !

(Donation: ‘Gold’ Coin)

There are good meals (restaurant) and drinks available at the Camden RSL. Plenty of Parking.

Thanks to Camden RSL for providing the venue.

Door prize – Optus Mobile Phone from Holden Dynamics – Optus Premium Dealer (THK)

Michel Geurts recently completed his first solo.

Congratulations Michel.

Michel

Instructor Darryl Montgomery has done most of Michel’s flight training so far, taking him from ‘initio’ (“nah mate, not from Initio, he’s always been at The Oaks”) to solo.

Darryl and Michel, both happy

For both of them, there’s a lot to reflect on, a lot of satisfaction. A first, but very significant step.

In other club news, spare a thought for Phil Brown. His dad has had a stroke. He seems to be recovering well. Phil is under a lot of pressure with the HSC, work and flying commitments.

We are all under an increased workload at the moment. We have greatly increased insurance commitments, together with costs associated with the new Foxbat, and trying to allocate flight and instruction time fairly and within reason.

Our number one trainer, 5356, is basically supporting all this, so we are very careful in where it goes and what it does.

In addition, Arthur Armour in Taree and Joe Newham our president have been flat out organising parts, paint, what to do, what various inspections mean.

The important thing to remember is that everyone plays a part. We are a club, not a for-profit company. The idea is that if we all put in what we can from our talents, others will help where we can’t. While nobody is indispensable, every individual matters and makes a difference.

You can’t place a price on what you do and say, “that is my bit, I deserve quid pro quo.” The truth is, none of us really realize what we get in return. We are blind to our blind spots, our companions politely, silently, mostly cheerfully work around our foibles and forgive our sins. We, in turn, have to hope what we give comes back in some way.

So when you come for a flight, ring up, or come for instruction, remember you are dealing with a fellow volunteer. You too can play your part.

Sometimes a helpful word, a thoughtful deed can make all the difference. No great shakes; start off by just seeing how the club works, go to a couple of meetings, stay back after your flight and ask if there’s anything you can do. Be on time, early to do pre-flights.

Be attentive. Be respectful. Be grateful.

It takes a lot of effort to get and keep planes flying, a lot unseen.

You can see the results, when you step back. How among us would be flying today but for the dutiful attentions of our instructors?

The gift of flight is a joy that is doubled in the sharing.

Hopefully, next week will see a rant free post

Meanwhile Michel, here’s to you.

Michel

Up, up and away

Update: My apologies to Michel on incorrect spelling of his surname.

Memberships are now due.

If you have paid a full year’s membership in the last financial year which should run past June 30 this year, we ask that you pay a pro-rata rate to make it run in a June 30th, 2010 to June 30th, 2011 cycle.

What do you get for membership? Well, you get to fly some terrific planes, you get fellowship, you advance the arts and science of lightweight aviation.

On the right hand side, there’s a PDF membership form which you can print out, fill in, send with $96 to

SRFC
PO Box 39
The Oaks NSW 2570

Get on board for a different view of the world

Here’s an inspiring poem to get you in the mood.

To be of use

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who stand in the line and haul in their places,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

~ Marge Piercy ~

(Circles on the Water)

Here’s an alternate point of view.

I drank
the cokes
that were in
the fridge

and which
you were probably
gasping for
post flight

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Vaguely apologising to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Just_To_Say

How we struggle with fixed wings and motors. Since the ancients we have been jealous of avian flight and wished to know its secrets.

Since the renaissance, our focus has been on contraptions that we could use to create flight.  Leonardo da Vinci was one of the first.

But before that time we humans found inspiration in domestication. Could we not harness nature, the ancients mused, in a similar way to how beasts of burden have been used?

So it was that mythology brought us Pegasus, a winged horse.

Heralding a new era

A domesticated horse

But we know from elementary weight and lift theories that this is barking up the wrong tree. The muscle and mass is all in the wrong place, the wing span would have to be huge.

We gave up. Instead, the availability of cheap petroleum, with its fantastic energy density, combined with materials science and technology created a whirlwind. That perfect storm resulted in the numerous crude flying devices proliferating today.

But our science and understanding may be about to turn full circle.

One of the most startling pieces of science news recently has to be the ‘Artificial life’ breakthrough.

One of the most insightful discussions of how it was done, and of the implications,  is over at reddit, where one of the authors of the paper answered any and all questions.

Among the many fascinating details was the fact that you can design a gene on your computer and upload it to a gene synthesis company to, well, have it manufactured.

Gene Script

Gene Art

Allow your imagination to wander for a moment. Imagine that we knew the secrets of DNA, of how to combine those TCGAs to make what we wanted. And we’ll take a further leap that somehow we can make gigantic chains for them, unlike the little ones so far, and that somehow, like in the musings of the Australian Museum, we could recreate large vertebrates, such as the Thylacine.

Suppose we knew the DNA for wings and wing muscle?

Suppose we could discover the DNA strands that make the horse pliable to our desires, or the ox dumb and directable.

Suppose we could combine all this and fabricate the mythical flying beast?

What manner of creature would allow us to saddle up and take off for a business meeting in Melbourne? What could support our weight?

There was once a branch of creature that could do this, the Pterosaurs.  particularly Quetzalcoatlus

Scale

We might disdain close physical contact with fellow creatures, only the adventurous ride horses these days.

But imagine ourselves on the 7:45 to Melbourne, a large Qantas glider pulled by a quiet team of harnessed Quetzalcoatlus, our pilot a skilled coachman, and our airports become stables staffed by ostlers.

But there is another, more scary scenario. Suppose like the sourcer’s apprentice, we could not leave well enough alone?

Perhaps the DNA strands for body mass, muscle, bone structure and density are too hard to muck around with? Perhaps the human brain is only a few strands long, a snap to snip in.

Why not gift your magpie with a the brain of a human?

I present to you, our new flight instructor.

More knowledge of flight than any human