Phil Perry

It's OK, all the crew lived. [MEDIA=twitter]1139239759434407941[/MEDIA]

The Ikarus C-42 is a German design, and very popular wIth training organizations n the UK. I fInd the cockpit a bit 'Tight' (being a Phat Barstard), and I really do not like AIRCRAFT WHICH HAVE A CENTRAL STICK, OK, I used to like the Victa 115, which had a central control column with 'D' type control handle, but I only used to fly that for aeros. . which it was quite fun at. I preferred the Aerosubaru Fuji FA-200 / 180 for Aeros as it had dual controls,. . and I didn't manage to break the wings off it while messing about. . .but that's another story. A very nice wealthy chap used to let me fly his Pitts S1, (after I had ferried him and his family to Phillip Island one day in my borrowed Cherokee six, ) . . . now THAT was an aerobatic wonderfluff with every landing a terrifying Adventure. . .. the silly bugger let me fly it with NO previous,. . but I got the hang of it with some decent briefings . . and around twenty five circuits at Moorabbin. . . . ( Don't ever DO that,. . take a LOT of lessons in an S2 first. . . ) There are some Nice, stable training aircraft available to us nowadays,. .. None of them are actully completely SAFE,. . but with the right instruction,. . they can be made thus.

She was certianly more analy retentive than I, when I did my first legal powered aircraft solo in a C-150 at Berwick in 1971,. . . . When the instructor got out of the cockpit I was petrified. . . and made a bit of a pig's ear of the circuit. . but I was forgiven. That is what I liked about Australian Flying instructors. . . . Especially Mine, Mr. Alan Basket Sir. I found this with most of the Aussie instructors who put up with me. . . . Especially with my later Instrument rating flight training. . .( Much Later- some of it with Alan as well ) how I ever got thru that, I'll never know. I'm glad that I did it at a youthful age anyhow. . . .

OK Pelto, I've never seen one land at our site, nor anywhere that I've flown into. . .but England is a busy place for tiny airfields, so that isn't surprising really. I've sat in a Slepcev Storch, and it was really Nice, but the guy was busy and I didn't get a chance to fly with him as he'd got a bevy of Cute ladies waiting for a ride. . . . the randy Git. . .I'm sure those ladies didn't appreciate the handling and slow speed characteristics as I might have,. .. but they'd have been a lot more cuddlyfun later no doubt. . . My Lottery Win bucket list includes a REAL Fiesler Storch. . . .There ARE a few flying I believe. The German Markings might be a problem, . . I witnessed a nasty incident at Cranfield few years ago where some German blokes had brought a 'Flitzer' radial monoplane replica to the show, and the ground crew were dressed in first world war German uniforms, and some spectators became very annoyed about this ? ? ? Not NAZI uniforms, just German period ones. . .Some people don't appreciate historical stuff obviously. We flew into a field clled North Coates on the East Coast a couple of years back and it was a WW2 Fancy Dress affair in the Hangar with a Glenn Miller style 1940s band and Sausages and Mash food. . It was Great. I saw two tall guys dressed as SS officers, which never bothered me, as they were part of WW2, but I heard them talking at the bar and they were actually Both German. . .I Did think that this was a bit Odd . . ! ! ! ! We have these events all over the UK in the summer months, called 'Wings and Wheels' with all sorts of military vehicles and people in period uniforms, vintage aircraft. . .just great events.. . .we have local one in July. Just trying to borrow a Spitfire to arrive in style. . . .

Apologies Marty. . .My memory isn't what it was (and TBH it wasn't much use then either. . ) I assisted my mate Simon with his Savannah build, doing loads of riveting and other stuff. . his Partner in the project was a Wuss, who didn't really want to get involved in the engineering so it took nine months over the time estimate to complete. He has a Jabiru engine fitted, which he has never had any problems with and he's flown around 800 plus hours in it to date. He went for the VG wing leading edge installation rather than the fixed slat type. . and these seem to work very well although the Elevator trim was a bugger, and the actuator arm failed twice. Possibly because of incorrect setting over stressing the mechanism. He seems to have solved this with a Mod, although I'm afraid to ask what mod it was, as he is a rather Long Playing Pilot, and I haven't got five hours for the explanation ! I have not flown with him often, as being a Phat Barstard, the bloody cockpit is ridiculously narrow and it's hard to hold one's breath over long distances. . . the later models have been modified with a wider fuse I believe, to accommodate those Normal Sized pilots ( like me ).

Very sad. Zero information at the moment, so I would suggest that speculation is pointless.

Give a shout to Marty D of this parish,. . he is building Zenair CH750, which is not too dissimilar to the Savannah. He might be able to point you in the right direction.

We used to have a bloody Possum Trail in our Loft when I lived in Melbourne,. . .noisy buggers, and the occasional ZZZAAPPP as one tried ( and failed ) to ride the overhead power line up Mitcham road, (just around the corner from Red 750s place. . .)

I saw the Groppo Trail at a Microlight aircraft show in the UK six years go. . it seemed like a handy little bushplane,. . . rugged construction which the salesman demonstrated by sitting on the tailplane while answering questions. . it had Large wheels + tyres too, I can't recall the engine type, as there were dozens of new types on show. . . Tandem Seating isn't very popular here in the UK though. . .and I do not know if there are any on the UK register at the moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8xBgK0DHDY

Froggie hardware in a Lanc ?. . . Sacre Bleu !

'All that is said about a 172 is true of a PA-28. Other than the wings being in the wrong place so you can see bugger all below,. . .like where you are '. There ya go PM. . .Fixed it for ya. ( ! ) :-) I LOVE the PA-28R200, BUT. . .if I'm flying somewhere scenic, ( ie, VFR) I Always opt for C-182 or 210,. .so that the Pax can take pictures of what we're flying over ! Love the 172, which used to be the Most flown aircraft type in the world,. . until it was beaten by the Bell Jetranger. . .( That's rather like comparing coconuts to bananas ) Like flying a Bus. . .lovely, comfortable thing to fly, does what it says in the book,. . . but with the caveats already mentioned hereinabove by those worthies far above my experience level. .

Thank you for all the additional info Guys . .Appreciated. .. Yampy - I was in France when the canadian lanc came over, so I missed getting a chance to see it. . .saw some Vid clips though. Kgwilson . . Reading Wiki briefly, there's a table which says that there are 9 Lancs left, but doesn't say if they are flyable, I admit, I didn't read the whole entry, as it's voluminous. As an afterthought to my brief but clumsy bit of text above the picture, I didn't mean to infer that a Barnes Wallis bomb was dropped on the Derwent Dam. . . . with all those adoring spectators, the Health and Safety Executive would have been most Miffed. . . .

From an instructor friend. . .

This picture was taken over the Derwent Dam ( UK ) I've tried to check which one it is, Reg HW-R, but can't find it on Wiki. It could, of course be the BBMF lanc, . .but I never committed the reg on that to memory. . .Nice Pic anyhow. . . Loads of spectators watching from both sides of the Dam, . .and the aircraft flying at around the same height that it would have been just after dropping the Barnes Wallis bouncing bomb. ( 60 Feet IIRC )

I often wondered if the Germans have any beers called Messerschmitt 109, or Focke Wulf Lager. . . but somehow I doubt it. Lovely to chat to the veterans, My only WW2 vet died a few years back. . 'Chalkie' White, flew Wellingtons, Stirlings amd got to fly Lancs as the war was nearly over. Died at 94, up to then, he still rode his push bike a mile to the pub and back !

Can't disagree there mate. . . it was a 'Walked away from it' with no injuries story ( Happily ). . . . I spoke to the passenger today ( Sunday 19th ) who is the Airfield security guard, This Gent is a long time Foxbat A-22 owner with hundreds of hours P1 over 20 years.. He said that he was 'Strongly Suggesting' ( ! ) that the pilot give it up and Go Around, . . . . . but he didn't. I saw the aircraft today, . . .many structural tubes on it are bent and twisted, main and nose gear legs sheared off, engine twisted in the frame with a mounting bolt fractured, plus other attachments torn away. I am NOT a qualified aviation insurance assessor, but I can't honestly imagine that being viably repairable. I heard also that the owner has just purchased a Thruster Sprint. So he's Game, I'll give him that.

I noticed that Honeywell rapidly disassociated themselves from the aircraft operator, obviously a subcontractor, very quickly. . . Hmmm. . . . cynically speaking, I imagine that their raft of lawyers fell over themselves as far as possible to distance the core company from any blameology for the tragedy. ( Just speculation on my part, but that's OK. . . it isn't flying operations speculation ! )

A UK registered Diamond DA-42 Twin came down three miles from Dubai intl. airport. Killing three British and one South African occupant. . . .Sorry, the link I have doesn't work. The aircraft was reported to have been carrying out Aerial Work, calibrating some Navigation equipment. The report was in the SUN Online news UK. The usual 'Newspaper' caveats apply here. Try this link. . 4 killed in plane crash near Dubai airport R.I.P. All four.

I Spoke to the pilot who over ran Rwy 25 tonight,. . . loads of excuses,. . the MAIN one being that he couldn't apply power to go around, as he was sliding along the wet grass at 90 degrees to the runway. . . with his left wing facing the forward direction. . .. Dunno why he was telling me,. . .I'm just the bloody Radio Guy. . . Incompetence, according to the Airfield manager, who got the event on video on this phone. He has asked me NOT to post this on the internet at the moment, so I won't. His version was 'No Wind, . . Hot Day. . .Too Fast,. . .Too Deep, . . .should have gone around,. . End of'. Knowing the Pilot, . . .I cannot disagree. Very Low experience,. . .RestrIcted licence for the last three years, meaning he is limited to traveling within an 8 NM radius of the airfield although he WAS allowed to carry a passenger. Purchased an 80 HP aircraft after flying 2 strokes for all of his training, only just had a conversion. You can guess the rest. Sad.

I really ought to expand little on the 'Ghostly Aircraft' story above,. . . I was taking a radar Advisory service ( RAS ) from an RAF unit Not a good Idea for Civvies - (but that is only MY Cynical opinion ) I was only 17 NM from RAF Shawbury, where the radar station was then located, when this VERY near miss occurred. . . . I had set their sqwawk encoding Mode C, and yet they said that they didn't see the light twin which passed over our heads around 50 feet above on a reciprocal heading, IN CLOUD.. . .which is why I have NEVER EVER taken a radar Info, Nor Advisory service from a military station since. I trust that NOW they have Mode 'S' available that the situation is a bit better. . . but one always wonders. . . This was 12 years ago by the way. . .

Regrettably, the Lady had her phone blocked against return calls, so I was unable to call her back. I'm always polite when we get a complaint, to help protect the site as we have a couple of people in the area who tried to block permission from the outset, back in 1991. although mercifully, we haven't received one for over a year before this, which was caused by a noisy helicopter. . . the site management banned Helicopters as that was the fourth complaint, all from a nearby Farm. It's a shame that Gyros were also banned, as joe public can't tell the difference, ie if it's got rotors, it's a Helicopter ! I have not had the pleasure of ever seeing a 'Ghostly' aircraft myself though, only a ghostly shape travelling in the opposite direction whilst flying IFR legally. . . !

Replying to Jabiru7252 "small recreational aircraft can be pretty awful to fly in hot lumpy weather. " Indeed they can Sir. . . Not only Recreational aircraft either. . . Turbulence doesn't give damn WHAT appliance you are flying. . . Last year, in the Extremely HOTTT UK Summer of 2018,. . I was asked to 'P2' a mate of mine when he ferried a Beechcraft Kingair from the UK to Eire ( Republic of Ireland ) to a place called knock. (Good name ) We took off from Luton Airport, near South East London ('ish ) at 9 AM, and climbed through controlled airspace under radar guidance finally coasting out from the UK over Liverpool, and the air was reasonably calm. . .as it was over the Irish sea as one would expect, BUT. . .as soon as we coasted in over the Irish mainland, all hell broke loose. . .we were in a Tumble Drier, and being chucked about all over the sky at 4,500 feet, and the lower we went, the worse it became. My Bose headset was damaged after several impacts with the cockpit side window framing. and I seriously thought that we were going to suffer airframe damage . . . THAT was only one of the few (fifty seven ) times in my life that I thought that I was going to die in an aeroplane. . . . My mate Captain Clive, was sweating like an adultress in Kabul and the aircraft became almost inverted a couple of times in the worst turbs I had ever experienced. We finally made it to Knock. . (.Clive wouldn't let me land it though the bugger,. . just because My licence wasn't current. . [ Twot ] ) and the ride home on the train and Ferry was far more relaxing, although everyone was barfing up on the Irish Sea and to Bogs were awash with puke. . .. We said to complaining passengers "YOU THINK THIS IS ROUGH . . ? ? ? ?" as we BOTH ate a full english with greasy bacon and drank pints of Guinness. . . .Bunch of Pussies. . .

You need this stuff Mate. . .

Did my Air/ Ground radio stint all day today. . .9 am to 6 PM. . . been otherwise occupied last week, and no one told me about the shenanigans. Incident #1. Lady driver on the M6 motorway, next to our site, phones the airfield number and leaves a message to say : a ' Low Flying Plane', "That only missed my car by a few feet". . . "It frightened me to death and I had my kids in the car and it made me swerve I was so shocked. . ." I saw it clearly in front of me, and it had TWO engines on the front. . ." "It happened as it was just getting dark" Our site is very small, by light aircraft standards, and No one has ever landed a twin, nor taken off in one, the whole time that the airfield has been in existence. it just isn't big enough. I have to assume that this was a joke message. it is now 2130 and it has just going dark. Our Ops finish at 20 00 hrs, last take off which at this time of the year is still broad daylight. I will treat this with the contempt it deserves . . . unless perhaps some Hoon in a twin did a a low flyby after everyone had gorn home. . .who knows. .. ?. TODAY ( Sunday 12th May ) we had quite a busy day but the first thing I was told was that one of our resident pilots had over run Rwy 25L in his Skyranger 912 ( 80HP ) had, on Friday, landed his machine Way too fast, and Way too deep into the strip and ran off the end,. . over the gravel vehicle track, and into a deep ploughed field. . . .and that the Aircraft is a total write off. ( Video available soon ) Again, today, a Dynaero Ban Bi, which is a composite aircraft, was given the duty runway, the longest ( 25L ) but for some reason landed on the Shortest (29L ) which is only 220 metres.. . . I told him that he was lined up on the short runway and he did not respond. . . .He continued with the landing, touching down with around 90 metres left. He 'Shimmied about' trying to stop, (Brakes don't work that well on damp grass. . .) and managed to do so with the aircraft finishing the run 20 metres beyond the runway, crossing the taxiway and vehicle track, and just running into the ploughed field beyond by around 3 metres. . .No Damage. but why ffs ? ( Pics of the aircraft available soon ) Makes yer wonder dunnit ?. . . the Pilot apologised and said that he mis-read the runway number and had never flown in before. . . We are listed in around four National airfield guides, and have a website full of useful, pictorial information for all the runways. . . . Mind you, to be perfectly fair here, I KNOW people who shouldn't be allowed near a bloody CAR either. . . .